TES Episode 3: The Bounty on Chandral
by John the Enforcer
Summary: The third episode of the Saga sees John the Echidna now as a vicious bounty hunter called the Enforcer...and he journeys to a world within his home system...and what happens to him there will change his life forever...


THE ENFORCER SAGA  
  
Chapter Three:  
  
The Bounty on Chandral  
  
by   
  
John "the Echidna" Fadeley  
  
NOTE: For the sake of the reader (that's you!), all alien languages are written in plain english.  
  
The date: February 31, 3236. The place: An area of space above the planet Naboo. This peaceful world is about to receive an unexpected visit from some unpleasant visitors. One is a being fleeing desparately for his life. Who or what is he running from, you ask? Well, you'd be running too if you had a bounty hunter on your tail. However, this bounty hunter is one to make any other bounty hunter in the universe cower or resent. A bounty hunter who, within a year, has established himself as the galaxy's most dangerous and most merciless killer. A cold-blooded assasin completely devoid of feelings like   
  
pity, remorse, or...love...  
  
The prey's ship flung itself out hyperspace, its hyperdrive damaged. As he directed his ship to the atmosphere of Naboo, another ship snapped out of hyperspace, screaming at high speed as it flew towards the crippled spacecraft.  
  
"No! He's followed me here!" the pilot of the escaping ship thought in worry, "It's impossible!"  
  
A voice came on over his communication system. "This is the ShadowHunter. Surrender yourself and your cargo and I shall be lenient with how you are treated. Resist and I will show no mercy!"  
  
"DIE, MONSTER!!!" the pilot yelled into the comm as he pushed a red button. Several missle launchers popped out of his ship and fired them at his attacker. "Let's see you survive that!" he thought with a sneaky grin. He then watched as the shields on his attacker's ship turned off. "WHAT? Is he crazy?!" the escaping pilot wondered. The missles hit their target and erupted in a fiery explosion.  
  
However, the dark ship that pursued him flew right through the explosion, unscathed!  
  
"What?! That should have torn his ship to pieces!" the pilot, an ammonia-breathing member of the insect-like Gand, screamed in fright.  
  
"That was a mistake, fool! This is no longer a pursuit. This has now become your execution!" the pursuing ship's pilot shouted.  
  
The dark ship approached his at almost blinding speed and sliced his ship's engines to pieces with its razor sharp wings!   
  
"Prepare to boarded!" the cold, menacing, mechanical voice snarled.  
  
The Gand then fled to his escape pod and launched himself towards the serene planet below.  
  
"Damn it! I hate when they do this!" the bounty hunter angrily muttered.  
  
His partner, a bulky-looking robot, came to him and asked, "Shall we pursue our quarry to the planet's surface?"  
  
"No. I'll deal with him. Just connect with the other ship, raid it of its weapons, load them on the ShadowHunter, and keep it in orbit until I call for you on the comm." he replied to his mechanical co-pilot.   
  
The bounty hunter, covered from head to toe in a mechanical suit made of a dark, shiny metal, went straight for the airlock and and shot himself out like a bullet. He then soared towards the escape pod on the jet boosters in his feet and on his back.   
  
"Sir, is this manuever sane? No one has ever attempted to hold on to a descending object while plunging through a planet's atmosphere!" the robot shouted over the communicator of the armored figure's helmet.  
  
"No one else has a suit like this, Heav-ster!" the bounty hunter replied with a grin deep under the armored skin. The bounty hunter then clung onto the escape pod as it descended to the surface of Naboo. He felt the heat of the planet's atmosphere course over his armor as the descent picked up speed. Yet, the armor held together.  
  
"Looks like coating this thing in Ditanium-Alloy paid off." the bounty hunter thought proudly, "Resistant to just about everything. Once we hit the surface, the hunt shall continue."  
  
The Gand shoved the citizens of Theed City aside as he fearfully fled for his life. "Get out of my way! He's after me!" he screamed.   
  
All of the portable weapons that hung under his robes weighed him down considerabley. The fact that he hadn't much exercise didn't help either. Even though many of his ammonia-breathing, insect-like species were trained warriors (better known through Gand tradition as "Huntsmen", warriors that often hunted through the ammonia mists of Gand using intuition and meditation), he was in no way prepared for the terror that pursued him.  
  
At one point of his escape, he bumped into a lovely, teenage, human female and fell on the ground.  
  
"I'm so sorry for getting in your way. Please, let me help you up." she offered.  
  
But as she assisted the Gand to his feet, he noticed a figure dropping down to the streets from the rooftops. A figure in dark, shiny metal!  
  
Immediately, he grabbed the girl and held her in a deathgrip. "I have a much better idea of how you can help me, like acting as insurance that I shall live to hunt through the sweet mists of Gand again." he whispered.  
  
"Hear me now, bounty hunter!" the Gand shouted while pulling out an ammonia bomb (toxic to humans but healthy for Gands), "Take one step closer, and I shall gas her to death!"  
  
"Go ahead. She should not have become a part of this." the armored figure snarled in a harsh, mechanical resonance.  
  
The girl then began to cry, fearful of what would happen to her.  
  
"You're bluffing! Surely you know that the Bounty Hunter's Guild will hunt you down for allowing the death of an innocent at the hands of the hunted." the Gand laughed. Deep down, he was hoping that the mechanical figure before him would see the girl's life spared.  
  
The mechanical figure stepped forward slowly, a deliberate slowness to further intimidate his prey. "I'm not a member of that society of clumsy cowards, you ammonia-sucking fool! I do not abide by the Creed of the Bounty Hunters! I am an independent bounty hunter and assasin. My client has charged me with the task of bringing you in, dead or alive. I believe you cheated him out of a gunrunning operation two months, three days, and three-point-two hours ago. To risk business with his species is to risk death. Garkuss of Gand, you are to surrender immediately or perish!" the armored figure spoke with his tenor voice, amplified and synthesized by the helmet's speakers to sound harsh, gravelly and mechanical. That further added to the merciless nature that surrounded the bounty hunter.  
  
Garkuss, too scared to even run, threw the girl at him. To the Gand's horror, the bounty hunter smacked the human female aside, the sound of bones breaking heard upon impact of the armored hand to her back. Like a rag doll, she fell to the ground after her body smashed into a wall.  
  
Garkuss then pulled out a small rod, which then extended into two red blades of invincible light.  
  
Almost as in an instant, the armored figure whipped out one of the nine mechanical tentacles around his head and seized the weapon. "A double-bladed lightsaber! I must say, you have a good taste in rare and ancient weaponry." the figure said as he then pocketed the weapon in a compartment in his right leg.   
  
"Who are you?" Garkuss asked, shaking with fear as the mechanical being got so close he could practically smell the metal armor.  
  
"I am THE ENFORCER!" the mechanical figure growled as he then wrapped two dreadlocks around a pair of some tubes near the Gand's breathing mask. Tubes that were feeding him precious ammonia! The dreadlocks then tore the tubes apart. Garkuss went into several coughing fits as poisonous oxygen flooded his lungs, burning his lungs. Blood splattered on his breathing mask as his coughing fits became worse and worse. Garkuss then collapsed to the ground, dead as a doornail.   
  
The Enforcer drank in the sight of the Gand's dead body, threw back his head and laughed. The sight of death was nothing new to him, and he pleasured every moment of every criminal's death at his hands or his dreadlocks.  
  
A horrified cry was heard behind him. He turned around and saw an older woman cradling the dead girl in her arms. "The girl's mother, no doubt." the Enforcer thought.  
  
The woman turned to him and angrily shouted, "How could you?! She was...my most beloved child...a jewel in my family."  
  
"She was in the way." the armored echidna muttered aloud as he gathered up the dead Gand.  
  
"MONSTER! Have you no heart?!" she screamed as she battered at the bounty hunter's armor with her fists, unaware that the armor was resistant against her beatings (and just about everything else).  
  
The Enforcer quickly turned around, grabbed her neck with one clawed hand, and hoisted her into the air. All in one second!  
  
"Perhaps I should kill you, so that you may join her." he coldly said with a growl, his glowing red eyes focused on her frightened face.  
  
Noticing several security officers behind the woman, he tossed her at them and hissed, "Get out of my sight!"  
  
But as he left them, she shouted, "I hope you can live with yourself, with the blood on an innocent child on your hands, you cold-hearted wretch!"   
  
The Enforcer took no heed to the woman's words. He simply called for his robotic partner for pick-up...  
  
"Another dead debter? You know HE will be very upset." Heavy chided through a vid-screen as he stored the dead Gand in a cooler in the ship's brig.  
  
"And so what if he does? He was probably going to torture that insect to death anyway. You know how bloodthirsty his kind are." John commented as he bathed in a shower in his personal quarters, "As soon as you're done there, go to the cockpit. Notify me the instant we reach Tatooine."  
  
Heavy heaved the dead body into the cooler, closed the door, and said "As you wish, sir."  
  
After John deactivated the vid-screen, he then ordered, "ShadowHunter, set   
  
a hyperspace course for Tatooine. Once we're out, set our landing point in Docking Bay 64 in Mos Espa."   
  
"Confirmed." the ship's on-board computer replied in a deep baritone.  
  
As John sat himself down into a meditative position, the woman's voice began to echo in his earholes.  
  
"I hope you can live with yourself, with the blood of an innocent child on your hands, you cold-hearted wretch!" It practically reverberated in John's mind.   
  
John wasn't really cold-hearted or heartless. But bounty hunting was not a business where emotions and conscience were a part of the job. And yet, deep down, he did regret that an innocent died at his hands.  
  
"Hmph! Innocent! Humans are never innocent!" John snorted contemptously. To him, humans were the most repulsive species he knew of, even more than any of the numerous species of the galaxy he had either met or knew of.   
  
The thought of repulsive beings quickly brought back memories, mainly, how he wound up working for Jabba the Hutt.  
  
It started when he was once on Coruscant, relaxing in one of the many cantinas after a grueling, yet satisfying hunt. It was then that Bib Fortuna, Jabba's right-hand man...no, Twi'lek...came into the same booth he was in. The pale-skinned being explained that he needed a fast transport to Tatooine, in a hurry to deliver some "special cargo" to his boss. John, at first, wanted to turn the hideous grinning fool down...that is, until Bib Fortuna mentioned that his employer was very rich. It was the very lure of money that brought John into Jabba's employ.   
  
He remembered that day as if it was yesterday...  
  
He stood near his ship, awaiting Bib Fortuna's arrival. He finally came running to the ship, another being in a cloak and hood with him.  
  
"Hey, where's the cargo?" he shouted.  
  
The Twi'lek looked at him as if he were an idiot (which he wasn't) and shouted back, "SHE IS the cargo! Now get us out of here!"  
  
Within seconds, both the Twi'lek and the person with him were on board the ShadowHunter. At the very same time, several Republic security officers approached his ship.  
  
"Sorry for the inconvenience, sir, but we need to search your ship." the leading officer requested.  
  
"State your reasons." the Enforcer blunty ordered.  
  
"A Twi'lek is here on planet. We have reason to believe he is   
  
transporting a slave to his employer on Tatooine. Slavery is outlawed by the Republic, you know." another officer explained.  
  
"And if I refuse to stand aside?" the Enforcer snarled, running a target map of the seven officers. It often amused John to think that they could try to impress him with their credentials and their guns.  
  
"Then your ship will be impounded, your belongings confiscated, and you will be charged as an accessory to the crime for aiding and abetting a felon in this crime against humanity!" the leading officer shouted, "Now stand aside!"  
  
Within seconds, the docking bay was wet with the officers' blood.  
  
"Make me." he growled as he boarded the ShadowHunter, "That head-tailed freak is going to answer to this! Heavy, get us out of here!"  
  
Once the ShadowHunter escaped into hyperspace, John grabbed Bib Fortuna by the throat and slammed him against a wall.  
  
"You pasty-faced worm! Because of you, I'm now a criminal! Transporting slaves! For this, I'm going to blast your brains out of that ugly tentacled head of yours!" he growled savagely as he pulled out his blaster pistol and took aim at the Twi'lek's head.  
  
"Please, don't!" the female slave shouted, getting in the way of John's blaster. John understood her words becuase he had downloaded the vocabulary of every sentient being into his brain and his armor from the Republic Senate Building. It caused quite an upset, though; one that John thought was funnier than hell.  
  
John made one of the mechanical dreadlocks of his armor take off the hood of the slave. It was red-skinned Twi'lek female!  
  
John knew that female Twi'leks had a reputation for being exceptionally beautiful and for being excellent dancers, with their lekku ("head-tails" or "worms" as other species called the twin tentacle-like appendages that came out of a Twi'lek's head) swinging about in sensual invitation. It often reminded John of his own nine dreadlocks, which were prehensile and, given the right mood, could strangle someone to death.  
  
The slave girl was indeed quite lovely as the reputation of her specie's gender suggested. But she still looked human, and that was enough to put off any further ideas John had about her.  
  
He dropped Bib Fortuna, holstered his blaster, then pointed one of the clawed fingers of his armor at him and snapped, "You had better deliver your end of this bargain, or I will make you wish you chose someone else to deliver you and your 'cargo' to Tatooine."  
  
But Bib Fortuna did deliver, about fifty thousand credits. The very lure of money laid hooks into John and he fell under Jabba the Hutt's employ as a ruthless bounty hunter and assasin, one that others feared and hated...   
  
  
  
"Sir! Sir! We're almost there!" Heavy shouted over the comm.  
  
John immediately dried himself off, put on his usual clothes, and got into his suit of Ditanium-Alloy armor. "How soon before we touch down?" he asked as the helmet came over his head.   
  
"Four and a half minutes, sir." Heavy replied.  
  
"Good. Call up Jabba and tell him we've arrived with our prey in tow." John commanded.  
  
"Yes, sir." Heavy said he switched off the comm.  
  
John then checked his personal account of money. Blood money. The total came to be 999,000,000,000 credits. He then checked to see how much it would be in Mobiums, Mobius's currency.  
  
He nearly fainted.  
  
"999,000,000,000,000 Mobiems!" John stuttered in shocked surprise, "Egads!"  
  
"Sir, we've landed." Heavy reported.  
  
"Right. I'm on my way." John said as he got up off the floor.  
  
"Hmmm....Yes, this is him. I never forget a face." Jabba stated as he looked over the dead Gand. Jabba was a horrible creature to be in the same room with, let alone look at.   
  
He resembled a massive cross between a toad's facial features and a slug's tail. The Hutt also had a pair of useless-looking arms on both sides of his barely-noticeable neck. His eyes were like a snake's, his slimy tongue licking the lips of his wide mouth. And no matter where anyone stood from the Hutt, one could not help but smell the stench of death about him.   
  
Here on Tatooine, Jabba ruled supreme as a slimy king of crime, as he was involved in practically every dastardly, underhanded, illegal doing that would give the Republic Senate a reason to have the doing outlawed. Gambling, smuggling, slave and glitterism spice trade, murder, hostile take-overs; you name it, the Hutt had his slimy hands involved in it.  
  
He then gave John the kind of look that would tear a planet apart and said, "Although I do remember him being a bit...livlier..."  
  
"Well, he would have wound up dead any way, right, big guy?" John chuckled while nudging the bloated, slug-like being with his elbow. Jabba did not laugh. John knew he was quickly losing favor with Jabba becuase many of the jobs the Hutt assigned him to, that called for the bounty hunted to be brought in alive, were going unfullfilled in the ALIVE part!  
  
"Say, Jabba. Many of these jobs you're sending me on are just way too easy. I need a job that will really test my prowess as a warrior. Give me a real challenge for crying out loud!" John shouted.  
  
Jabba grinned. To John, the Hutt's bloodthirsty grin almost reminded him of Robotnik, with the possible exception of the warty skin, more massive body and his large, reptillian eyes. "As a matter of fact, I do have an assignment for you. One that I think will do the trick just nicely."  
  
"Okay, shoot...I mean, heheheh, go ahead." John said. He liked to instill the idea that he could be destroyed by his clients. He would enjoy the looks on their faces if they actually tried it, and he came out, unscathed.  
  
"There is a dagger, a very rare and priceless item on the planet of Chandral. Close to your homeworld, I believe." Jabba started. That often scared John when his clients knew where he came from, especially if he rubbed them the wrong way. And John knew that when a Hutt seeks vengence for being wronged in any way, that vengence would be swift and deadly.  
  
"A...client of mine is seeking ownership of it. I will pay 250,000 credits to you if you retrieve it." Jabba further explained.   
  
"Sure. No problem." John said as he was about to board his ship.  
  
Jabba then threw his massive tail in front of John's way. "One more thing: I've heard that the females of Chandral are exceptionally beautiful. Capture a girl with exceptional dancing skills and bring her to me." he rumbled.  
  
"I though you already had a dancing slave girl." John said, giving the Hutt an odd look (of course, with the helmet on, it would be hard to tell what he was feeling).  
  
Jabba licked his wide lips and laughed, "Correction! I HAD her fed to my pet rancor. Hohohohohohohohoho!"  
  
John gulped. The thought of the jaws of Jabba's vicious pet clamping on his being was not something he relished in the least. "Well, that's going to be another 250,000, Jabba, plus 500,000 for my expenses." John said.  
  
The Hutt fell silent in an instant. This was not something he liked to discuss. Jabba fumed for a moment, then said, "Very well. You'll get your money."  
  
"One more thing, Jabba. You forgot to pay me 250,000 for the bounty on Garkuss here." John said as he made a gesture that meant he was expecting immediate payment.  
  
The Hutt growled for a moment, then flung a sack full of credits at the Enforcer. "Nice doing business with you, fatso!" the Enforcer laughed as he got into his ship and took off.  
  
  
  
"I assume you know why I called for you." Jabba rumbled to the extremely thin being before him. The being was a Glymphid, with spikes on the sides of his neck leading all the way down to the bottom of his torso. The Glymphid also had a long snout with several sharp fangs on the sides of his lips, suction cups at the end of his hands, which were at the end of his long arms, red reptile-like eyes and a pair of short, stubby legs. The Glymphid's name was Aldar Beedo, an assasin who was truly deserving of his nickname "The Hit Man".  
  
"Let me guesssssss. It hassssss to deal with doing ssssssssssomeone in, oh Mighty Jabba?" the Glymphid asked in a hissing tone of voice.   
  
"As a matter of fact, yes. I need you to kill the Enforcer. The amount of money I have to pay for his services are bleeding me dry!" Jabba angrily growled as he pounded the table.  
  
Aldar Beedo scratched his chin for a moment, then said, "I sssssee. Well, thissssss will not be the easssssiessssst assssssssignment I've taken on. He'ssssss not an easssssy one to kill, Exsssssalted One. However, ssssssince I've had it coming for that dirtbag rookie, I would love nothing more than to see that dreadlocker'sssssss head upon a forcssssssse pike. One hundred thousssssssand for the death of the Enforcssssssser!"  
  
"One hundred thousand is a bit steep, but atleast it's not as bad as what that mechanical moron is asking for." Jabba thought to himself. He then traditionally spat on his hand and held it out, asking, "Then we have a deal?"  
  
The Glymphid spat on his hand and shook Jabba's, saying, "Deal! The bessssssssst one I've ever made!"  
  
John suddenly awoke from his meditation cycle, sweat pouring down the sides of his head. He often did this to keep his mind calm before going into battle or embarking on a new world. He felt that it would also give him an idea of what he was going to be facing upon his arrival. But now, he could not even concentrate enough to see what lay ahead.  
  
Heavy immediately rushed into John's personal quarters and asked, "Sir, are you alright? This is the fourth time this has happened on our way to Chandral."  
  
"I don't know, Heavy. I've been meditating so that I may have some clairvoyance of what lies ahead on Chandral. But each time that I do, I get nothing more but a blur that then causes me a headache." John explained. He then downed two pills that helped ease the pain in his head that he was feeling.  
  
"Well, we're coming up on Chandral, sir, just so you know." Heavy stated in a matter-of-factly tone.  
  
"Good. Get to the cockpit and bring us down to the planet's surface." John said. He then said the command words for his mechanical suit of armor, "Armor: Activate!"  
  
Within twelve seconds, the armor came over his body. He then picked up a small grey device off to the side of his quarters. It opened up like a clam, revealing computer displays, a small microphone port, and a hologram projector on the opening half. "Morning, Interface." John said.  
  
With several beeps and whirs, the small, hand-held computer answered in a slight female tenor, "Morning, Enforcer. How may this unit serve you?"   
  
"I need basic information on Chandral, the world we're headed to." he asked.  
  
"One moment." Interface replied. After several more computer-like noises, it used its hologram projector to display a blue and green world with a slight patch of yellow, and two patches of white at the northern and southern poles. The hologram also displayed a large number of brown dots surrounding the planet.   
  
"Chandral: Fourth planet in the Mobadan system, it is the sister planet to Mobius. Scans reveal breathable atmosphere, high vegetation, numerous life forms, and a thirty percent chance of rain tomorrow over the southern-most region. Very little data is known on this enigmatic orb in space." it stated.  
  
John peered closer at the brown dots, then asked, "Interface, what are those brown dots surrounding the planet?"  
  
"Scans reveal high concentrations of Ditanium-alloy, iron, and numerous minerals yet uncatalogued." it answered.  
  
"Asteroids." John thought, "No wonder there isn't much info on this world. Chances are, no one ever has ever gotten through that field." He then grinned and thought, "Until today, that is. Heh heh heh heh heh."  
  
"Sir! Please report to the bridge!" Heavy called over the comm. John then pocketed Interface into a compartment at the back of the the armor's chestplate. He then ran to the cockpit and met up with Heavy.  
  
"What's up?" he asked his mechanical partner.  
  
Heavy then pointed to the planet in front of them. "Asteroids, sir. They're practically surrounding the planet!"   
  
"I know. Interface informed me about this." John said.  
  
Suddenly, a siren began to go off.  
  
Heavy checked the sensor array, then reported, "Sir, another ship is coming out of hyperspace due four-point-five of our position." John looked out the Ditanium alloy-glass window and saw a ship that resembled a blue, mechanical manta ray, fitted with several weapons under the wings.  
  
"Identify and hail it." John simply said as he sat down in a curved control chair and pushed several buttons on the left arm of the chair.  
  
Heavy ran through the sensor array, then answered, "It's the Tarroga Gan, sir." Heavy then activated a small communitcator and said, "This is ShadowHunter to Tarroga Gan, please respond."  
  
"Tarroga Gan. That's ol' noodle-face's ship." John mused, "I'll bet mobiums to credits that he's here to claim the dagger for Jabba instead of me."  
  
The Tarroga Gan opened fire on the ShadowHunter!  
  
"What the hell's that about?!" John shouted in surprise. He didn't think that Aldar Beedo would be stupid or crazy enough to shoot at his ship.  
  
"Tarroga Gan to SssssShadowHunter: Ssssssurrender immediatley and I will make your death asssssss quick and assssss painlesssssss asssssss posssssssible." the Glymphid hissed over the communication port, "Jabba ssssssssent me to asssssssasssssssinate you. Sssssssaid you were getting too pricssssssy with your exssssssssspected reward money."  
  
"Why, that perverted, double-crossin' slug!" John cursed.  
  
Then, as Aldar Beedo's ship pummeled away at John's ship with all the fire power in his arsenal, John took control of the ShadowHunter and veered it towards Chandral.  
  
"Sir, you're not seriously doing what I think you're doing, are you?" Heavy cried as he quickly put on a seating restraint.  
  
"Well, then he'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't he?" John said as he seized the manual controls.  
  
The ShadowHunter dove into the asteroid field, but the Tarroga Gan did not.  
  
"Pah! You have to come out of there ..... sssssometime ..... And .... you.... I''ll ......" Aldar Beedo snarled as the transmission started to break up.  
  
"Hmm...the asteroids seem to be messing up the communicators, sir." Heavy noted aloud.  
  
John grinned a bit as he skillfully piloted the ShadowHunter through the asteroid field and said, "Good. I was getting tired of hearing that putrid lizard's hissing."  
  
Night was beginning to fall on Chandral. They landed on the outskirts of a town close to what certainly looked like a palace. Where they landed was a great forest-like area.  
  
"Remember, Heavy, if you don't hear from me in the next two weeks, I'm counting on you to trace the energy signature of the Chaos Emerald that's powering my armor and take it back to Mobius so it won't fall into the wrong hands. Okay?" John said as he took several Pokeballs, containing some of his most powerful Pokemon.  
  
"Acknowledged, sir." Heavy replied, "And sir, permission to speak freely."  
  
John turned to his sole companion, smiled, and said, "Heavy, you know that kind of permission is always granted. What's on your mind?"  
  
"Well...what if this mission is all a ploy just to get rid of you, sir? Jabba obviously wouldn't send Aldar Beedo after us unless it was for that reason." Heavy stated, "And besides, if you do find a dancing girl on this planet and tear her away from her home and possible family, won't that bother your conscience in the least?"  
  
"Heavy, in this business, right and wrong doesn't really matter. You just go in, get the goods, head back to the client, take your pay and say you've had a nice day. That's all there is to it." John replied, "And as for ol' noodle-face, we'll deal with him and Jabba the Hutt after I complete our mission here."  
  
John then opened up the hatch to the outside of the ShadowHunter and was about to leave before Heavy stopped him. "Sir, in case we never see each other in this light again, I just want to say that it has been an honor working with you."  
  
John shook hands with his metal partner and said, "Thanks, Heavy. You're the best friend an echidna could ever have. Hopefully, we'll see each other again." And with that, John left the ShadowHunter. After he was a good distance away, he watched as his ship took off into the night sky.  
  
"Well, time to see if the natives are friendly." he thought as he began walking towards the village.   
  
"HELP! Someone please help me!" a female voice screamed.  
  
John's first instinct was to ignore it and move on. But the Naboo woman's words returned to haunt him. Was he going to allow another innocent to die? Finally, he chose to go in the direction of the screams. He came to large tree and was surprised by what he saw.  
  
Up in the tree was a female squirrel, probably seventeen ....eighteen years old, had flowing dark-red hair, a lithe body, a bushy tail, and emerald green eyes. She was wearing a green silken outfit, reminiscent of a book John once found called "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights", a shimmering purple veil over her mouth, a magenta hairband that grouped most of her hair into a ponytail that hung down to her waist, light-blue Arabian-style slippers with the toes ending in a slightly upward curve, and a dark blue silken vest. From the looks of it, she was very terrifed for her life.  
  
John looked towards the base of the tree and saw why.   
  
Surrounding the base of the tree was a pack of snarling beasts. They had long, warthog-jaws with three pairs of sharp tusks at the sides, white glowing eyes, skeletal arms that ended in sharp claws, a back covered in red spines, and a lower body comprised of some kind of mist or fog. They made noises that sounded like a mix between a crocodile's growl and squeals like a wild pig. When the monsters opened their jaws to emit long, wolf-like howls, John noted that their jaws were big enough to swallow a man whole!  
  
One of the beasts made a lunge up the tree, grabbed ahold of the girl's tail with its sharp teeth and began to haul her down to its pack. "NO! Let go of me, you monster! HELP!" she screamed as she futilely kicked at the beast with her feet. The creature refused to yield. The rest of its pack drooled in anticipation.  
  
Unable to take anymore of the situation, John aimed his right fist at the creature. A laser cannon popped out before his wrist and fired several rounds into the creature's backside. It let out a horrific, high-pitched squeal. The rest of the beasts converged upon their injured member, ripping flesh from bone!  
  
"Gross! They eat their injured?!" John thought.  
  
Then, John got an idea. He took out his holoshroud device and activated it to show the image of the fiercest beast he could think of: a Rancor! Every move he made, the hologram imitated. "Perfect!" John thought. He then activated recordings he had of a rancor roaring for all its worth.  
  
The beasts saw the horrifying "creature" and began to scatter, terrified by the Rancor.  
  
Unfortunately, this also scared the girl. She clung even tighter to the tree.  
  
John, seeing that he had done enough, switched off the holoshroud, deactivated his armor, and climbed up to where the girl was. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.  
  
She looked, had a confused expression appear on her pretty face, then she asked, "Did you see it? Where did it go?"  
  
"It's okay." John coaxed, "It was just a hologram."  
  
"Holo-what?" she asked, even more confused than ever.  
  
"Here, I'll show you." John said as he extended his hand in a friendly gesture. She eventually got over her consfusion and fear, and took John's hand.   
  
"By the way, what were those things?" John asked as he led her down the tree.  
  
"Those were Taekwraiths. They often appear out of mists or fog and prey upon unwary travellers. I never thought they would actually come this far away from their normal hunting grounds." she answered. Once they were down, John showed off the holoshroud's capabilities. As soon as John finished, he found that the girl was hugging him.  
  
"How can I ever thank you? You saved my life." she asked.  
  
John couldn't explain why, but what she was doing felt good, in an emotional way. "What's your name?" he asked.  
  
"Neela Persephone Squirrel. What is yours?" she asked, batting her eyes flirtatiously.  
  
John was just allured by her beauty. He quickly got ahold of himself. "Um...hold on a second. Armor: ACTIVATE."  
  
Right before her eyes, the armor came over his very being. When it was finished, John turned to her and said, "Call me THE ENFORCER."  
  
She was stunned. John then heard her say in a near quiet voice, "By Chandrala, it's him!"  
  
"What? What's going on?" John asked.  
  
Without warning, she began to run off.  
  
"Hey! Wait a minute! What's going on?" he called after her. When she didn't reply at all, John ran after her. But as ten minutes past, he felt like he might as well have been chasing an experienced swoop bike pilot because now, she was completely out of sight. With that, John decided to pursue her from the air. He activated the jet boosters on his back and at the bottom of his armored feet and took off into the sky. Hopefully, he could track her by her heat signature.  
  
But as he activated his infared sensors for his eyes, he saw four   
  
signatures ahead of where she was running, signatures holding sharp-looking weapons. Sensing trouble, he dropped down into the trees and watched as Neela ran into the midst of several rhinos, each dressed to look like royal guards.   
  
"Where were you? The Supreme Empress of Chandral should not be kept waiting for Nikto berries!" the rhinos stated together, in an almost drone-like monotone. This was weird. Each of the guards faces, while they did look angry, had an almost distant, trance-like look about them.  
  
Neela then tried to explain to them what had happened...only to be hit in the face and knocked to the ground by one of the guards!  
  
That was enough to get John's blood boiling with anger and hatred, two of the few emotions he felt during his career as a bounty hunter and assasin. He leaped down into the rhinos' midst like a fierce beast. The guards, though a bit shaken by the sudden appearance of the newcomer, went on the attack with their weapons, which resembled a cross between a spear and a double-bladed broad axe.  
  
They hammered at his armor, but were unsucessful to do so much as a pin prick of damage upon the armored plates of the armor. Then, John struck back!  
  
He first used his dreadlocks to push the rhinos away from him. But as they returned to attack, one of the guards was speared through the heart by one of the dreadlocks of John's armor. John then pulled out his blaster and fired atleast four rounds into the oncoming guard on his left. Instead of killing the guard, he kept coming. John then holstered his blaster, pulled out his newly-acquired lightsaber, and activated the twin red blades of light. He made short work of two of the three guards that were left. The last one just stood there, stunned by the manner of his compatriots' deaths. John then made a motion with his index finger that clearly meant, "C'mere!" Instead, the guard dropped his weapon and ran for it.  
  
With the guard gone, he turned towards Neela, who was recovering from the blow the guard gave her and helped her up. He noticed that there was a bruise on her cheek where the rhino hit her. He deactivated his armor, placed his hand on the bruise, and, with a blue glow that went from his brain to his hand, he healed her.  
  
"I knew it! You are the one!" she cried happily.  
  
John grabbed her shoulders and said, "Now calm down! What are you talking about?"  
  
"You are the one! The one of two that shall liberate Chandral from the grip of the evil that faces us!" Neela said.  
  
"SAY WHAT?!" John shouted, confused about what this girl could be going on about, beyond the palest of possibilities.  
  
Then Neela approached him and undid the shimmering veil around her face. She sauntered towards him, placed her arms around his back, and gazed lovingly into his silvery-blue eyes. "This is for rescuing me." she said as she prepared to kiss him.  
  
Suddenly, there was a loud noise, like someone stepping on a cat's tail. Sensing another danger, John immediately broke away from Neela's gaze, activated his armor and ordered, "Get behind me, NOW!  
  
A red and black blur soared at them at incredibly high...nay, supersonic speeds. It stopped in front of John, revealing the blur's true form and astonishing the bounty hunter at the same time.  
  
It turned out to be a beautiful female black cat, with golden-yellow eyes, a lean body, and a head of long, bright red hair. She was dressed in a fire-red Arabian-style outfit, an silken ocean-blue vest, a light blue sash around her waist, and and two green hairbands that grouped most of her hair into a unique braid. She was brandishing a weapon that resembled cross a between a scythe and the Tusken Raider's gaffi stick.   
  
"Man, is she beautiful!" John thought, "Hmm...Considering she's a black cat, I wonder if this is good or bad luck."  
  
She growled at him, had the spear end of her weapon point at his neck, and snarled, "Alright, you tin freak, let's move!"  
  
"Why don't you point that thing someplace else?" John said as he shoved her weapon aside.  
  
She growled again, aimed the scythe-like blade at his neck, and prepared lop off the armored echidna's head.  
  
"SHANDRAY, NO!" Neela shouted as she got in the way. Fortunately for the female squirrel, the black cat halted her swipe.  
  
The two females then began to bicker in their native tongue while shooting glances at the armored echidna. Neela, however, lowered her head, as if defeated in the arguement and ashamed of herself.  
  
Shandray then pointed her weapon's spear-end at John and ordered him to come with her and Neela. "Give me any grief, and I will kill the servant girl!" she snapped.  
  
"Very well. Lead the way." John said, deeply resenting that he would have to put up with such treatment. It also angered John that Neela must suffer such cruelty. Of course, once John left this world, the squirrel servant girl, this black cat...none of them would matter.  
  
  
  
The palace that the three arrived at was quite different from John's original concept of what it would look like, based on the garb worn by the inhabitants he had met so far.  
  
Its many spires were tall, but looked like they were made by a malicious architect on glitterism spice. The outer walls were covered in many sharp protrusions, like thorns. The windows seemed to glimmer a hellish red, resembling a gateway to a fiery world beyond death. All in all, it was an imposing image.  
  
"Nice architecture. Let me guess...Post-Satanism?" John joked.  
  
Shandray did not laugh.  
  
"Tough world." John remarked grimly, seeing that his minor jest failed to leave so much as a grin upon the black cat's face. It did make Neela giggle a little, only to have it silenced by a mean look from Shandray.  
  
Once inside the dark palace, John began to feel...almost sick to his stomach. There was a terrible feeling of dread, eminating from the very walls of the palace. Just from these feelings alone, John sensed that something was amiss here. TERRIBLEY amiss!   
  
"Go back to your quarters unless her Majesty summons you!" Shandray harshly ordered as she shoved Neela in the back.  
  
John immediately grabbed the black cat's wrist with his dreadlocks and snarled, "There is no need for this heartless treatment. Can't you see what the poor girl has been through?"  
  
"Release me at once!" Shandray yelled as she struggled to rid herself of the mechanical tentacle-like extentsions of John's head.  
  
Then, something unexpected happened. The surroundings began to wriggle and squirm and blur as a grey fog surrounded both John and Shandray. The next moment, they were in a large chamber with large arched windows, several burning urns, large marble pillers, a pair of fourteen-foot-high doors to John's right, and a dark, cylindrical, silken curtain thirteen feet to John's left. Here, the terrible feeling John felt earlier intensified a hundred fold, as if he near the source.  
  
John's dreadlocks released their hold as Shandray immediately got down on her knees. "Oh, Supreme Empress of Chandral, I have brought the armored one before your exhalted presence." she said in a low and solemn voice.  
  
A pair of glowing red eyes opened from behind the curtain. John's skin was practically shivering. This was a very odd feeling for him as he was never afraid of anything before.  
  
Whomever or whatever was behind the curtain nodded it's head, a gesture of dismissing the black cat. With that, Shandray left, closing and locking the great doors to the chamber after she had left.  
  
John heard fingers snapping. Two veiled beauties came in through the doors and parted the curtain. There, lying on a throne made of soft pillows and cushions, was a vixen. A dark blue vixen. A voluptuous vixen.  
  
Her long flowing hair was purple, her cheek, chest, and tip-of-the-tail fur was a lighter blue than the rest of her being, and her body was lithe and well-defined. She was wearing a green strapless top with lighter green tassels along the edges, a long purple skirt with slitted sides to show off her lovely legs, a diamond-encrusted crown, a necklace with a shining saphire, and ruby-red slippers on her feet. What was most striking about this enchanting vision was her eyes. Her eyes were as red as blood.   
  
"Greetings. Welcome to Chandral. I am Supreme Empress Blue Fang." the vixen said, with a voice so sultry and so hot, it could melt butter in a matter of nanoseconds.  
  
For a moment, John did not respond, stunned by the vixen's beauty and her voice.  
  
The vixen sat up for a moment, supported by her bushy tail, inquisitve as to why the armored stranger did not reply to her greetings. "Did you not hear me?" she asked.  
  
"Umm...yes, I...I...I h-h-h-heard you." John babbled. "What is wrong with me?!" he thought to himself, "I can't possibley be losing my head over some...some female!"  
  
"Hmm....not a very articulate speaker, are you?" she asked as the two servant girls helped her to her feet. The vixen then slowly and gracefully slinked up to the armored echidna, seductively swinging her hips as she did.  
  
"*AHEM!* I am the Enforcer, bounty hunter and assasin." John said. He could not explain why, but this female was seriously messing with his mind. Practically putting a spell on him.  
  
She ran her hand across the chestplate. "Not even a scratch." she said while batting her eyes flirtatiously, "You're quite a man of steel."  
  
"Ditanium alloy, actually." John corrected.  
  
She then did something John wasn't expecting her to do. She stuck out her left leg and rubbed it up and down on John's right hip. She placed her arms around the back of John's neck and seductively asked, "Would you care to do me a big...favor?"  
  
"Anything!" John blurted out. Realizing what he had said, he quickly added, "To be of service, of course."  
  
"Of...course." she replied, bemused by the armored echidna's fuddling with words.  
  
She went to sat back down. One of the servant girls, a ferret, went to help her sit down...accidently tripping her and having Blue Fang fall on her cushioned throne face-first! John almost started laughing, but then thought better of it, not wanting to make himself look like a complete idiot in front of the Supreme Empress.   
  
The vixen angrily glared at the servant girl, her teeth clenched with hate, her eyes glowing as red as hellfire! "You clumsy little fool! How DARE you trip me?!" she growled.   
  
The ferret, her eyes filled with terror, ran for the door. She did not make it, though, for the vixen lauched a green ball of flame from her hands at the girl. In a flash of green flame and a scream of utter horror, the servant girl vanished. John was absolutley petrified with terror-stricken awe. He looked back at Blue Fang. The glow in her eyes faded back to the original blood-red shade, her snarl had gone back to an enchanting smile, and she calmly sat down, as if nothing ever happened. The other servant girl, a rabbit, immediately began fanning the empress, fearing that the same would possibley happen to her.   
  
"Not that it's any of my business, your Majesty, but what happened to the girl?" he asked.  
  
Blue Fang glanced towards him and casually said, "Oh, nothing. Just teleported her to dungeons."  
  
"Sheesh! I'd hate to see what would happen if someone accidently SHED a bit of fur on this vixen." he thought to himself.  
  
"Anyway, there's a large beast terrorizing my empire. Anything you can do to...stop it will be worth your while here." she said, bearing one leg out.  
  
"I'm sure." John replied, "Look, I'm new here. What does this beasty look like? Just give me an idea of what I'm dealing with."  
  
"You DARE to demand something of ME?! she roared, her eyes once again glowing.  
  
John then began violently clutching his throat, as if a large snake had slapped its coils around his neck and began constricting the very air out of him. It became even worse, right to the point where John was down on his knees!  
  
"Please...stop. I meant....no....disrespect." John struggled to say. Now, he knew the source of this feeling of dread. It was her! She was setting off his instincts for danger. And now, he was practically powerless to defend himself.  
  
Blue Fang grinned and said, "Very well." With that, the grip on John's neck was released. The armored echidna took in several breaths of air before getting back to his three-clawed feet.  
  
The vixen then waved her fingers about in a slow and gracful manner, as if conjuring up another spell. Several flames from the urns then snaked their way across the floor to the center of the room and took the eight-legged form of a...  
  
"Spider?!" John gasped, his face turning pale with fright beneath his armor. Next to humans and Hutts, John felt that spiders were the most disgusting and hideous things he had known of in his entire life. He could not explain to himself why or how he developed such a fear over a small thing like a spider, but he had always had this fear.   
  
The firey image of the arachnid then sprouted a pair of bat like wings between the head and the bulbous abdomen. The legs then turned sharp, as if turning into blades. It was a frightening image! His dreadlocks began to shiver and rattle against each other.  
  
Blue Fang glanced at John and asked, "Are you alright?"   
  
John heard a few snickers in Blue Fang's last question. Was she LAUGHING at his phobia?! Well, if she was, she was doing a poor job of hiding it. This angered John more than anything, so much, that he began to run a target map, plotting every possible vector of attack.   
  
But in the end, John decided it wasn't worth it. She was offering him a new and certainly more challenging hunt. And that was basically what John came for.  
  
"Would it be okay with you if I sleep on it?" he asked, "A good night's rest will certainly be a benefit in this hunt."  
  
Blue Fang made a slight growl before putting on an enchanting smile and saying, "Yes, of course. By all means. Your quarters are right down the hall near the servant girls' quarters. If you need anything, just yell for it and you will be sure to receive it quickly."  
  
"Very well." John said, before graciously bowing and leaving the throne room.  
  
Once the armored echidna left, Blue Fang ordered the rabbit servant girl to close the curtains and to leave for the night. Once the girl had done these things and left, Blue Fang rubbed the saphire.   
  
"Brutus! Answer, you carapaced cretin! BRUTUS!" Blue Fang whispered.  
  
The saphire then shot out a beam of light and formed a window into a cavern of some sort. A cavern littered with bones, drained corpses, a large circular object at the center of huge web and webs spreading from the roof to the walls.   
  
There came a sound within the cavern. The sound of sharp blades hitting the rocky floor of the cavern, to be exact. Then, a hideous face came in front of the window.   
  
It had a black shiny exoskeleton, a piston-like mouth, and eight red and orange reptilian eyes. When it spoke with its gruff voice, its mouth parted left and right, revealing a large circle of teeth leading into the creature's digestive system. There was a leg sticking out of its mouth.  
  
"This had better be good to interupt my midnight snack!" he grumbled as he got in front of whatever he was looking into. He then let out an insect-like shriek and stuttered, "Enchantress Blue Fang! Uh...heheh...long time, no see, babe! How've you been?"  
  
"That's EMPRESS Blue Fang to you, you ingnoramous of an arachnid, and don't talk with your mouth full in my presence!" Blue Fang snapped, getting queasy just looking at the leg sticking out the beast's mouth.  
  
Brutus noticed the leg, turned around, made a horrific slurping sound (followed by a blood-curdling crunch), turned back to the vixen enchantress and said, "Sorry about that. You were saying?"  
  
"Brutus, I have another sucker coming your way. Hope you like CANNED food." she said with a sinister looking grin.  
  
The arachna looked upward moment, as if in deep thought, then turned to her and replied, "Depends. What's this guy like?"  
  
"He's an echidna in a suit of ditanium-alloy armor." she answered.  
  
Brutus made a vicious look and said, "Hold the scrolls! Ditanium-alloy?! With all due respect, your Despicableness, you know that crap gives me gas!"  
  
"The echidna shouldn't be too much of a problem. I sensed his fear the instant he saw the image I made of you. He'll practically cower at the very sight of you." she said with sinister confidence.  
  
"Well, alright. How soon is he coming?" he asked.   
  
She answered, "He's spending the night here to rest his weary self. He'll probably reach the Arachna Mountain Range by nightfall in two days."  
  
Brutus grinned, "Good. That should take all the fight out of him."  
  
"Right. Well, rest well, Brutus." Blue Fang said with a yawn.  
  
Brutus, however, interupted her by asking, "Um...one more thing, your voluptuousness. When am I going to devour...you-know-who? That spell you cast on my prisoner is keeping me from making a meal out of the person."  
  
Blue Fang grinned and said, "Kill this armored echidna, and you shall be rewarded with her flesh!"  
  
"Okay! Brutus out!" the arachna said with a vile laugh.  
  
John tossed and turned in the bed he was sleeping in. His nightmares were intensifying. The vixen's burning red eyes had practically branded their hellish image into his brain. That, and he kept hearing voices in the room. Voices of a tortured soul!  
  
He awoke with a start, shook his head, then mentally called for the squirrel servant girl, Neela.  
  
She awoke with a jump as John's voice reverberated throughout her mind. She then whispered in a low voice, "Yes, I'm coming."  
  
One female fox awoke to see what Neela was up to and asked, "Neela, what are you doing at this time of night? Go back to sleep."  
  
"Tarana, the stranger is calling for me. I must go to him." Neela replied.  
  
"Are you crazy?" a female skunk whispered harshly, "You know we're under a forced curfew! If you leave this room, the guards will dice you to pieces!"  
  
Suddenly, they all heard the sound the guards outside of the servant girl quarter's being attacked. They heard the clinking of metal blades as the guards' weapons clattered to the dark-red rock floor.  
  
Neela then grinned at the other two girls and said, "What guards?"  
  
With that, the squirrel servant girl got into her clothes, put on her veil, and entered the room where John was sleeping. However, the armored echidna was nowhere to be found.  
  
But as she got atleast four feet into the room, the door slammed shut behind her and the lights went out. She then felt herself being tied up, her wrists and ankles being bound together. She also felt something being placed over her mouth. Whatever it was, it stuck fast to her face and kept her from opening her mouth and screaming. Then she was pushed onto the bed.   
  
She then watched as a ball of light flew from clawed, metal hand, and lit all the oil lamps in the room. There, standing over her, was the Enforcer!  
  
"Did anyone follow you or see you come in here?" he asked, the red eyes on his visor glowing as he spoke.  
  
With the lights on, Neela could see what was binding her wrists and ankles. Manacles made of the same dark shiny metal as the Enforcer's armor were clamped around her wrists, ankles. On her mouth was a greyish-blue gel. She then shook her head to say "No."  
  
"Good." the Enforcer growled as he pressed several buttons on his left wrist. The manacles flew off of her wrists and ankles, and clamped around an exposed area of the Enforcer's two front dreadlocks.  
  
The armored echidna took out a blaster, lifted her veil, and took aim at the gel over her mouth. "Hold still." he simpley stated. A red blast of energy flew from the blaster and caused the gel to evaporate.  
  
The servant girl began to cough violently, clutching her throat as she gasped for air. Then, she started to cry.  
  
"Quit your crying. I wasn't going to let that stuff stay on you and kill you." he said harshly.  
  
"Why must everyone treat me so terribley, even you?!" she sobbed.  
  
John did feel a bit guilty about what he had just done to her, tying her up and scaring her half to death the way he did. He then put his left arm around her and said, "I....I'm sorry about the way I treated you just now, but you have to understand that this is my nature. I must be overly cautious about who I trust. Now, I would very much appreciate it if you would tell me what the hell is going on around here."  
  
"See those bulges in the walls?" she asked, pointing to what looked like a hand trying to push its way out of the wall, only to sink back in.  
  
John's eyes went wide with awe and surpise. "Yeah...yeah, I do see them." he replied.  
  
"Those belong to our true ruler, King Aaron, the Supreme Ruler of   
  
Chandral. Blue Fang displaced his very being, his very soul, into the walls of our palace, before she made it into what it is now." she explained.  
  
Suddenly, a face started to bulge out of the wall. It had a long, slender snout ending in a small, olive-shaped nose. The face was echidna in form! "Hhhhhelp mmmeeeeeee..." it wailed sorrowfully. The face then sank back into the wall.  
  
"By my dreadlocks!" John gasped, shocked by what he had seen. He turned to Neela and asked, "Can't we get him out?"  
  
"Sadly, the only way is to take away Blue Fang's powers with the Chandral Dagger. Blue Fang has it hidden in her ponytail to hide it from those who would take it and use it against her. Plus, around here, King Aaron is the only one who knows the incantation that will activate the dagger's magic draining powers." Neela sadly concluded.  
  
"Whoa. Bummer." John said, feigning concern.  
  
Neela's eyes widened and said, "Look away for a moment."  
  
John obeyed.   
  
"Okay, you can turn towards me, now." she said.  
  
John looked and saw Neela holding a necklace with a magenta-colored jewel shaped into a circle with strange symbols in the middle. She then placed it into John's hands.  
  
"This...belonged to a good friend of mine. Take it with you. It will bring you good luck." she said with a kind smile.  
  
John looked at it for a moment, then stated, "I don't need luck. I have my armor and that's all I need."  
  
"Please take it. It would mean so much for me and to my friend, wherever she might be." she pleaded before letting out a long yawn.  
  
John, feeling very tired himself, took in a deep breath and said,   
  
"Alright, I'll take it. Now get some rest, fair Neela. You look like you could use it." Then, with a yawn of his own, he fell asleep on the floor...  
  
"Neela! Neela, wake up, you lazy girl!" a femenine voice ordered.  
  
John opened his eyes wide, donned his armor, and saw Shandray shaking Neela violently to wake her. But as the black cat raised her fist to even punch Neela to wake her, John grabbed Shandray and held her against a wall.  
  
"Hit her again, and I swear, by whatever deity you worship, I'll kill you!" John growled in her face. John raised his right fist and made the two claws of the armor come out. John had these claws built into his armor to fit his own retractable claws, which would lie under his skin until he felt like using them.   
  
Neela awoke, saw what John was about to do and got in the way. "John, don't do it!" she cried.  
  
"Neela, get out of the way! She tried to hit you to wake you up!" John replied.  
  
"Please, John, I beg of you. Don't kill her." she pleaded, getting down on her knees.  
  
John looked at Neela, then at Shandray. "Alright. I won't kill her. Now, get going before you're missed."  
  
With that, the squirrel servant girl left the room.  
  
But when she did, John grabbed Shandray by her neck, pulled her close to his armored head, and snarled, "This isn't over, you bad luck bitch!" John then dropped her and left the room.  
  
"You bet, it isn't, you piece of Ternax shit!" she hissed as she held her neck.  
  
John went straight to the throne room. But when he entered, he quickly averted his eyes, for Blue Fang was in the middle of a bath in a marble tub that came out of the floor. She glared at him, threw a fireball from her hands and yelled, "Don't you ever knock?!"  
  
John ran out of the room. "Boy, that was embarassing!" John muttered. This was the first time John had ever stumbled into somthing like this. And quite frankly, he was ashamed of himself. He was ashamed that he could be so clumsy and careless as to blunder into a room where a woman was bathing.   
  
After five minutes, she emerged from the throne room, her hair wet and running down her back like a purple cascading waterfall. She had a grey towel wrapped around her torso.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry I lost my temper like that. I thought you were one of the guards. You know what pigs they can be." she said with a charming smile.  
  
John chuckled, "You think the guards HERE are pigs? You ought to see the ones that work for a client of mine."  
  
She laughed at his comment, then asked, "So, have you given any further thought to the hunt I've given you?"  
  
"I have, and I have decided to take on the hunt." John answered, "Um...do you know if this thing has a lair or anything?"  
  
She then made the water in the bath tub form a globe of Chandral (minus the asteroids, of course), and pointed to a range of mountains on another side of the globe. "Right here. The center of Arachna Mountain Range. It is atleast a week's travel from here." she explained.  
  
John turned to her and asked, "Now, there's only one of these things, right?"  
  
"The beast I'm sending you after is the last of its kind." she replied.  
  
"Good. Well, I'm off then." he said as he went for the door.  
  
The vixen teleported in front of him and requested, "How about a kiss for good luck?"  
  
"No thanks." John said.  
  
She seized John by his neck with one hand, hoisted him into the air as if he was nothing, and, with her red eyes glowing, snarled, "I INSIST!"  
  
"Okay, okay! One smooch, and then I'm outta here!" John strained himself to say.  
  
She kissed him on one cheek.  
  
She then conjured a teleport spell and sent John straight to the Arachna Mountain Range. After that, she spat on the ground and said, "YUCK! I can't believe I kissed one of those dreadlocked rodents!"  
  
  
  
Where John reappeared was half-way up the central mountain. "I've got to hand it to that Blue Fang chick: she's a hot package, but she sure does leave me cold." he muttered.  
  
He looked down from where he was and saw that many of the mountains surrounding the mountain he was on spiraled outward like a spider's web.  
  
"And here I am, trapped in the middle." John moaned, "God, I hate   
  
spiders!"  
  
  
  
Night began to fall on Chandral as John reached a plateau near the top. He climbed over the cliff side and saw a large cave ahead. He looked around to get his bearings, and saw a tall, wooden stake in front of him...a stake stained with blood and with a few shredded ropes at its base. Other than that, the ground near the entrance of the cave was practically littered with bones and ripped up strips of cloth.  
  
This was enough to give John second thoughts about what he was about to do. But instead of getting on his communicator and calling for Heavy to get him out of there, he moved on, into the cave.  
  
And just when the sights of the cave's entrance wasn't enough to give John the shivers, he then entered an enormous central chamber inside the cave. In it were skeletons, corpses that looked like they were drained of their bodily fluids, and spider webs as far as the eye could see. But these weren't the sights that would make John scream. It was the sight of his target.   
  
The beast was gigantic! A monster of an arachnid! It was practically thirty feet in height and it was...  
  
"Asleep. Thank goodness!" John thought to himself.  
  
The Arachna was breathing heavily, a few tattered bits of flesh hung outside of its cavernous mouth. It then unleashed a horrific belch.   
  
"Oh, gross!" John muttered to himself as he tried to fan away the stench of death flowing from its mouth. He continued to look around and saw a massive spider web with a big, circular object at its center. The object itself was covered in Arachna silk.  
  
"An egg sac, no doubt." John whispered to himself with a frown, "Can these creatures get anymore disgusting?!"  
  
Suddenly, the object began bulge near the bottom. The movement was slow, but it was enough to get John's heart racing. With that, he pulled out his blaster and fired at the thing.   
  
The blast, however, ricocheted off of the bottom, bounced around the cavern and hit the Arachna on the eyes. With a slight growl, the beast began to wake up.  
  
"Oh, bloody hell!" John muttered.   
  
Once it caught sight of John in his armor, it let out a roar that sounded like a cross between a tornado ripping through a town and a swarm of angry locusts.  
  
John fired again at its eyes.  
  
"OW! Whadya do that for?!" it shouted. It then pointed one of its forelegs at the Enforcer and snapped, "You're gonna pay for this!"   
  
John just stared on in utter shock. "This thing can talk?!" he said in complete disbelief.  
  
"Yeah, I can talk!... And walk,...and EAT! WANT A SAMPLE?!" the Arachna growled as it charged at John, its mouth dripping with some kind of slimy fluid.  
  
"Oh no, you don't." John muttered as he pulled out a flash grenade and dashed it to the ground.  
  
The flash emitted from the grenade was blinding! The Arachna screeched angrily and thrashed about madly trying to strike at the Enforcer. John then pulled out two Pokeballs, containing two of his most powerful Pokemon. He launched the first one, shouting, "Avalanche, I choose you! Soak that spaced-out spider with your Hydro Pump attack!"  
  
Out of the Pokeball came a Cloyster with a blue outer shell and a savage-looking grin on its pearl-like head. The Cloyster closed its shell for a moment, then opened, and fired a huge, solid blast of water that launched the spider-like beast across the cavern.  
  
"HA HA HAAA! Water?! Is that the BEST you can do?!" Brutus scoffed cruelly, his entire exoskeleton drenched.  
  
John grinned, recalled Avalanche and said, "The best is yet to come. Shockwave, GO! Let this monstrosity have it with your Thunder attack!"  
  
Out of the Pokeball came an Electabuzz, its black stripes and yellow fur more brilliant than any other member of its kind. It growled, then fired a massive lightning bolt at the aquafied arachnid. The electricity coarsed all over Brutus's body and caused him to scream and yell and thrash about madly until he finally collapsed, unconcious from the voltage.  
  
"Good work, Shockwave. Another job well done." John said as he patted his Electabuzz on the back. Shockwave rumbled with pride. The Enforcer then recalled Shockwave and pocketed both Pokeballs with in his armor. Then, with the armor enhancing his strength, John picked up the unconcious Arachna and heaved him into a bottemless pit that was nearby.  
  
John then looked back at the object on the large spider web. He activated the infrared option in his visor and saw what certainly looked like a humanoid form within the round, web-covered orb. From the looks of it, the being was knocked out, but still alive.  
  
"Hmm...I know that laser blasts don't mean shit to this thing, so that means I must employ a different method of viewing what's in that...whatever-it-is." John thought as he then brought out another Pokeball, "Dark Lord, GO! Take a look at whomever, or whatever's, in that object."  
  
A Gengar emerged. It's main epidermal layer was darker color than the rest of its kind and it's red eyes glowed in the near darkness of the cave. It flew up to the object and stuck its head in. After a few seconds, its back spikes stood on end, as if something had surprised it. It then flew back to its Pokeball and recalled itself into it.  
  
"Hey!" John shouted, "Dark Lord, what did you see?!"  
  
No response.  
  
"Fine. I guess I'll have to find out myself." John huffed.  
  
With that, he leaped into the air and activated the jet boosters under his feet and on his back, and hovered over to the object. He then pulled out his newly-acquired lightsaber, turned on one of the two red glowing blades of light and began to make a horizontal cut into the object. It turned out that the object was not a cocoon, but a rubbery, bubble-like structure.  
  
But what lay inside the bubble was the greatest surprise to John. It was a girl! But not just any girl. It was a young female echidna!  
  
She was eighteen years old in appearance. Her skin was a dark green, except for around her mouth which was a peach-color like John's. Her snout was shorter than John's, but smoother in comparison. Her eyelids were are a darker green than the rest of her body, which was lithe and looked quite lean and well-developed. Her hair was purple, as were seven of her nine dreadlocks (John noted that the two front dreadlocks on both sides of her head were pink).   
  
She was wearing a dark blue, silken Arabian outfit (silken pants and a top with stretchable straps that went around her arms), the legs of her pants were slightly translucent which allowed anyone who looked upon her to partially see her legs. She also had something golden around her forehead. What it was, John could not tell, as some tufts of the female echidna's purple hair came over it. He looked at her bare feet, which were smooth and ended in five small toes on each foot.   
  
He turned on the X-ray option on his visor and saw sharp claw-like objects near her knuckles and a small, sharp spike in both of her wrists. He also noticed that there were powerful muscles in her dreadlocks. The similiarities between him and this female caused John to become overjoyed, as now, he had found someone that matched him in physical form. But when he turned her over to look at her backside, his spirits fell. She did not have a tail!   
  
"So much for that." he thought glumly, "Oh, well, at least she isn't a total loss." And what John thought did not sink in until he continued to gaze upon her. She was beautiful beyond belief. John could not take his eyes off of her. In his deepest, most secret opinion, she was perfect in form. Absolutely perfect! But she was so lifeless...   
  
Then, it happened!  
  
The female echidna woke up in an instant, then kicked John with both of her feet. The impact sent John flying across the cavern, right through several stalactites, and into a cave wall!   
  
"Geez! What a kick!" John said as he emerged from the hole.  
  
But then, it sank in. "Hey! She can't get away with that! I just got her out of that...whatever it is! She should atleast thank me for doing so!" he snarled.   
  
He watched as the girl leaped out of the bubble, did several acrobatic stunts while in mid-air, then landed gently on her bare feet. "Well, she's good, but...what is she, some kind of circus star or...a dancer!" John thought to himself, "Jabba never specified what specie he wanted, so on with the capture!"  
  
Suddenly, something caught the girl by her legs. It was a strand of spider webbing! More of it covered her body until only her eyes, a tuft of hair near her forehead, her hands, a couple of dreadlocks, and her bare feet were showing.  
  
It was the Arachna!  
  
"What the hell?! I thought I got rid of you already!" John shouted.   
  
Brutus then spit out a lasso of spider silk, had it wrap around her knee joints, and pulled to trip her up. "Thanks for the help, buddy! Now, its suppertime!" Brutus cackled as he began to pull the struggling echidna damsel close to his mouth.  
  
"Oh no, you don't!" John shouted as he pulled out his lightsaber and cut the line between the girl and the monster.  
  
"Hey! No fair!" Brutus roared.  
  
"Get used to it, you freak of nature! Life is never fair." John stated as he aimed his left arm upwards. Out of the arm came two missle launchers, one to both sides of John's arm. The missles fired at the celing above Brutus.   
  
"Ha! You missed me!" Brutus chuckled.  
  
John said back, "Did I?"  
  
For just then, the cavern roof began to collapse! John hoisted the girl into his arms and ran for the outside of the cave, while firing missles at the entrance to the cavern to block Brutus from following them.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Brutus roared as he was being buried under the rocks.  
  
John managed to get out of the cave just as it collapsed behind him. "Whoa! That was too close for comfort." he thought.  
  
The girl, however, thrashed about madly trying to break free from the webs that bound her and continued to further restrain her movements.  
  
"Poor girl. Doesn't she know that all she'll accomplish by struggling like that is strangling herself to death?" he wondered. He then went up to her and said, "Okay, now, take it easy. I'm going to get you out of this, but you need to hold still."  
  
The echidna female, however, had other ideas. She let John get close enough until he was practically near her feet. Then, she placed her feet on his chestplate and kicked him away again, sending him crashing into the rubble of the collapsed cave.  
  
"Why, that little...I gonna kill her!" John growled as he crawled out of the rubble that nearly buried him. But what he saw next astounded him to no end.  
  
The girl, still wrapped up in the Arachna's webs, was floating in the air, her eyes (which were a haunting purple) were glowing as bright as the stars. There was a bright flash of light, and then an explosion! Bits of webbing were lying strewn about the plateau in front of the cave's entance.  
  
"Good grief! She blew herself up!" John thought in shock...until he noticed footprints leading down a mountain path. He grinned and muttered to himself, "I can still head her off if I can get airborn."  
  
To his dismay, he found out that the circuits to his jet boosters were damaged from being jostled around when the girl kicked him away. "Well, it looks like I'm going to have to track her down the old-fashioned way." he thought as he got the claws on his armors to spin like drills and dove into the ground, following her footprints.  
  
  
  
The girl was atleast halfway down the mountain before she stopped for a moment to catch her breath. She heard a rumbling, looked around, then saw a boulder that was two times her height. She then picked up with both of her hands and held it above her head like it was a stuffed toy. She eagerly awaited the coming of the armored stranger.   
  
Deep down, she did not know who this person was. As far as she was concerned, the one who trapped her in that wretched bubble so long ago had sent this nigh-invulnerable ner-do-well to accomplish what that idiot Arachna could not accomplish: to kill her! And yet, she felt like she had known this fellow was all her life. But she immediately dismissed that thought. Besides, a Ditanium-alloy suit?! She certainly knew she was up against someone or something that definitely was not of her world. The best she could do now was to prepare for the being's arrival at her location.  
  
  
  
He surprised her by coming up out of the ground behind her!  
  
She surprised him by holding such a large boulder over her head like that!   
  
She tossed the boulder at him without any further thought. The Enforcer pulled out his lightsaber and cut the boulder in half before it hit him.  
  
With that, she leaped into the air and jump-kicked the Enforcer in the forehead. She then did a backflip, landed in front of the armored being, and began to pummel the armored face by punching him rapidly.  
  
John then grabbed her hands with one of his dreadlocks. With that, she began to kick at him...only to have a couple of dreadlocks wrap around her ankles.   
  
With that she tried to whip at her attacker with her long dreadlocks. Another two of his mechanical dreadlocks encircled her waist and her neck. With no other recourse, she tried to struggle away from the being. At one point, she even launched a blast of psychic energy at him from her hands (a real surprise)!  
  
John then made his dreadlocks hold her over the cliff side. "You can either stop hitting me and explain yourself, or I'll drop you and send you falling to your inevitable doom. Your choice!" he growled at her.  
  
"Release me at once, you piece of Carnarth shit!" she shouted at him. Her voice, while having a delicate air about her, was strong and defiant.   
  
Two of the mechanical dreadlocks released their grip on her ankles. "Wrong response!" John scolded while waving a finger at her.  
  
"If my father was here watching this cruelty, he would see to it that you get that wretched head of yours lopped off!" she yelled.  
  
"Oh, really? Who's your daddy? A peasant? A slaver? A palace guard?" John asked, mocking her.  
  
She angrily answered, "The Supreme Ruler of Chandral is my father, you armored idiot!"  
  
Upon hearing that, he pulled her away from the cliff. "Wait a minute! If your dad's the high king around here, then...that would make you a...a princess!" John reasoned.  
  
"Princess Adonna-Lyn Echidna to you. But if you wish, you may call me Princess Adon, or just Adon. But I would be most honored if you addressed me as 'Your Royal Highness'." she stated in an as-matter-a-matter-of-fact-like tone.  
  
John frowned under his armor and said, "I'll call you many things, but those four you pointed out aren't included."  
  
She scowled at him and snapped, "How dare you! Have you no respect for royalty?"  
  
John once had respect for royalty and that was towards Princess Sally back on Mobius. But when her followers turned against him, he counted her as an enemy. "No. I respect one person and one person only. ME." John stated.  
  
Princess Adon angrily fumed for a moment, then calmed down and requested, "Well, I have given you my name. Tell me your name."  
  
"I am The Enforcer, a bounty hunter and assasin." John said.  
  
"I knew it! I knew it!" she said, glaring at John with unmistakable hatred, "Blue Fang sent you to kill me!"  
  
"Wait just a damn minute! Blue Fang sent me to kill that spider back there." John said, gesturing back up the mountain road.  
  
Adon sniffed contemptuously and said, "Proves what you know! Brutus is an Arachna, and he is Blue Fang's right hand man...beast...you know what I mean! She probably sent you up there to be killed, just like every other damn fool who has come up there."  
  
"Yeah. How about you tell me how you wound up with tall, ugly, and eight-legged back there? John asked.  
  
"Sit down. It's a long story." she stated...  
  
It all happened two months ago. She was strolling through the town of Karlay, her being hidden under a ragged cloak and hood. Due to threats on her life, her father had made it so she did not leave the palace unescorted or without any particular reason. That only helped to fuel her rebellious spirit, enough to escape the palace life for several unescorted excursions into the world beyond the palace walls.  
  
She came upon an old mole's tailor shop. Seeing the beautifully woven cloaks and hoods, she entered. She saw one beautifull cloak that particually caught her eyes. It was a fine, dark blue, silken cloak. She took it to the owner to purchase it. She then wore it under her ragged disguise and left the store.  
  
But when she left the interior of the store, she saw that something was terribley wrong. The people, the birds, everything looked like it was frozen in a moment of time.  
  
Then, she felt the dark blue cloak she was wearing wrap around every part of her body and constricting her until she found herself struggling to get the cloak off of her. But alas, it was to no avail, for the cloak even wrapped around her face. Then the cloak transformed into a large bubble...with her trapped inside of it!  
  
She pushed at one side of the bubble. It bulged, then forced her hand back into the interior of the bubble. She punched, kicked, and did everything Chandralite possible to escape. But it was no use. She could not force her way out of the bubble. And when she attempted to use her powers to either teleport or use a psychic blast to blow open a hole, nothing happened, as if the interior of the bubble was cancelling out her powers.  
  
The old mole came out of the store and cackled, "A perfect fit!" Then her slightly fur-covered skin began to squirm and reshape itself until it formed a shapely, dark-blue vixen. It was none other than the cruel enchantress Blue Fang!   
  
"Surprised to see me? I knew you would be." she laughed. She then transformed into an exact look-alike of the echidna princess ...with the possible exception that the vixen's eyes remained blood red! The vixen enchantress noticed this oversight in a reflection on the bubble, then brought most of her hair over her eyes.  
  
"Don't worry, little princess. I'll deal with your father soon enough!" Blue Fang laughed cruelly as she began to walk in the direction of Adonna-Lyn's palace home. The bubble, however, disappeared from Karlay and appeared at the top of a mountain near a cave. The cave of Brutus the Arachna, Blue Fang's right-hand beasty. The creature seized the bubble prison and brought it down into his lair...where he then tried to fit it into his mouth and devour the unfortunate princess!   
  
Fortunately, the bubble proved to be too much of a mouthful for Brutus. Plus, it tasted terrible to him. So, as an alternative, he spun a web, placed the bubble prison on it, and spun several webs around it to give it the appearance of an egg sac.  
  
"And there I stayed, for two whole months. I wept, fearing what that horrible witch would do to my dear father." she said, a tear falling from her purple eyes.  
  
John caught the tear with his right index finger and said, "If it's any consolation, your father is still alive."  
  
"He is?!" she cried excitedly. She tackled John and hugged him at the same time. She then realized what she had just done, straightened herself up a bit, then asked, "Is he safe?"  
  
John was a bit speechless. He was never touched by a female like that in his entire existence. He got up and answered, "Well, his very being is trapped in the walls of the palace."  
  
Adonna-Lyn gasped at this news, then jabbed John in the stomach with her left fist! "Thanks a lot for the encouraging news, Mr. Kill-Joy!" she shouted at him. She turned away for a moment, shaking her hand in pain. "Ow! Note to self: Don't do that again!" she mentally noted.  
  
"You better not do that again, if you know what's good for you!" John stated.  
  
She turned to him, a stunned expression on her face. "You...you just read my thoughts, didn't you?" she asked.  
  
"Um,...Yeah! Doesn't everybody?" John asked.  
  
She shook her head, then questioned, "Where are you from?"  
  
"Like I'm going to tell you." John said, looking away from her.  
  
Adonna-Lyn threw up her hands in frustration, then said, "Okay, Mr. Attitude. As a princess and daughter of the Supreme Ruler of Chandral, I request that you take me back to my home, aid me in defeating Blue Fang, and help me save my father."  
  
The Enforcer immediately turned to her and shouted, "What do I look like, your royal escort?! Besides, outside of your palace, you don't have any real power, do you? Find some other sucker to do the job, because you're asking the wrong guy for this."  
  
The echidna princess became so mad, the green skin around her face nearly turned a bright red. Then, she got an idea. She walked up to him and said, "Look, I'm a princess, right?"  
  
John looked at her quizzically, wondering where she was going with this, then answered, "Yeah, you're a princess, alright. But I've met too many princesses or daughters of people in power to know what they're like: spoiled, ill-tempered brats!"  
  
This was truly a test of the echidna princess's patience, for the armored stranger was wearing it very thin. "Well, logically, you do know that as a princess, I am considerabley wealthy, right?"  
  
"Are you going anywhere with this?" he snapped.  
  
Adon nearly bit her tongue in half; her anger was growing and her patience diminishing. "Look, if you'll atleast take me as far as the palace walls, I'll pay you..." she said, while trying to think of an appropriate sum.  
  
Several of John's dreadlocks perked up a bit as he asked, "How much?"  
  
"Well,...more than you can possibley imagine." she said.  
  
John looked at her, a frown forming underneath the armor plating, and said, "I dunno; I can imagine quite a lot."  
  
"You'll get your money." she then said.  
  
"I better get my money!" John snapped.  
  
She looked him in the eye (well, the glowing red eyes of the armor) and reassured, "You will!"  
  
John shook her hand, closing the deal, then said, "I must warn you: several clients of mine failed to pay and...well, they're no longer among the living. Get the point?"  
  
"Right." she answered, jerking her hand out of the Enforcer's grip. She then looked at him and asked, "What are you like under all of that?"  
  
"Damn! I wasn't prepared for that." he thought. Then, he answered, "Under all of this is nothing but blood and vital organs! Open up my armor and all of it will gush all over you!"  
  
"Ech! 'Sorry I asked!" she said while making a face of total disgust. She then turned to view the frontier ahead of them and said, "Well, we've a long way to go. Can you fly in that armor?"  
  
"Until you started kicking me around, yeah, I'm able to fly in this armor. But no thanks to YOU, the circuits for my jet boosters have been damaged! So, you're out of luck there, princess!" John snapped while pointing a finger at her.  
  
"Alright, I'm sorry about that! Did I know that you weren't going to kill me? NO, I didn't! OKAY?!" she shouted at him.  
  
Suddenly, something pulled her legs together and tripped her up. She looked and saw sticky Arachna silk wrapped around her legs, as well as a line of the silk leading to a smaller Arachna, one that was as tall as she was. John tried to get in the creature's way, only to be smacked aside by its wings. Adon tried desparately to rip the webs apart with her hands, only to get them stuck! The Arachna closed in on her, drooling up a storm. But before it had a chance to stab the echidna princess with its knife-like legs, John grabbed it by its abdomen and tossed it against the mountain side. With that, John fired several rounds of missles at the creature's underside and killed it.  
  
He turned to Princess Adonna-Lyn and asked "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"  
  
"Only my pride and my dignity. Get me out of this junk!" she stated as she furiously tried to pry her hands off of her web-tied legs.  
  
"Hold on! The only thing that's going to be pulled off of you at this rate is the skin on your hands if you continue pulling like that. Here, let me help." he said as he got down on one knee and tried to help get her hands free from the sticky silk.  
  
She, however, batted his hands away with her dreadlocks. "Keep your filthy hands to yourself!" she shouted at him.  
  
"Look! Do you want my help, or do you want me to leave you up here?!" John shouted at her.  
  
She looked beyond him, then her face turned a bit pale as if she was frightened by something. "Um...Enforcer, there's something you should know about Arachnas."  
  
"Yeah, and what's that?" John muttered as he finally got the echidna princess's hands free.  
  
"Young Arachnas hunt in large numbers!" she screamed, pointing behind the armored bounty hunter.  
  
John looked and saw an entire army of winged spider-beasts crawling toward them, their foul drool dripping from their mouths, their insect-like screeches filling the air.  
  
"Now, what do we do, Mr. Big-shot Bounty Hunter?" she snapped.  
  
John looked over the side of the cliff and said, "Hang on."  
  
Realizing what he meant by that, she protested, "Oh no. Don't tell me we're going to juuuuuuuuuuuump!"  
  
Well, John didn't tell her. Instead, he gripped Adonna-Lyn's hands like there was no tomorrow, spread out his dreadlocks, and glided away from the mountain.   
  
"Um...Enforcer, those things can fly, you know!" she shouted up at him.   
  
"I know. Don't speak to me anymore until we land on the ground. I need my concentration, because this is the first time I've ever had to glide while holding onto someone." John ordered.  
  
Fortunately, they both landed on the ground safely. She then asked, "What about the Arachnas?"  
  
John ducked behind a tree and answered, "Oh, I left a little surprise for them, which should be going off in 3...2...1..."  
  
Adon heard a large explosion and watched as a ring of fire expanded from the point John and she left from. Then, something very warm and slimy landed all over her. Arachna guts!  
  
"This...is...DISGUSTING!!!" she shouted.  
  
"Well, what did you expect to fall out of the sky from an explosion like that? Snow?!" John joked, "Man, when it rains, it really pours!"  
  
"Wait just a minute! Why aren't you covered in this ... this ...debris?" she asked while trying brush off as much Arachna blood and guts as she could.  
  
"Well, if it's one thing I've learned in this business, it's that LOCATION is everything!" John replied.   
  
She continued to brush the rest of the bioloigical debris off of her, but then she heard the sound of rushing water. "A waterfall! Great! Um...Enforcer, I'm going to try and bathe this slop off of me. It shouldn't take too long." she said.  
  
"Why bother? Besides, you look rather hot in bug guts." John joked...only to be smacked by a tree that Adon uprooted!  
  
  
  
A couple of moments later, Adon came back, clean as a whistle and as dry as a desert. "Well, what are you just lying about for? Let's get going already!" she ordered.  
  
John, getting up from his lying down position, snorted and muttered, "Well, it was YOU who knocked me out with a tree!"  
  
The echidna duo then entered a rather forboding-looking patch of   
  
woodlands. The trees' limbs resembled gnarled fingers, that seemed to reach out towards them. The interior of the forest resembled darkness with a slight mist rolling in. John then noticed that Adon was staring into those woods with a terrified expression on her face.  
  
"So, what's this place called?" John asked.   
  
No response.  
  
"Adon! What-is-this-place-called?!" John yelled.  
  
"The Death Forest." she finally answered, in a voice full of meekness.  
  
"Hmm...encouraging name." John muttered while he surveyed the interior with his infared sensors, scanning for possible threats.  
  
"My father warned me about this terrible place. Those who entered this forest never came out. Let's go around, on the outskirts of this hellhole." she urged.  
  
"Negative. That will take way too long. We're going through!" John replied.  
  
"I was afraid you'd say that!" Adon said as she and her mechanical bodyguard began to set foot into the Death Forest.  
  
"Just stay close to me and I think we'll make it through with no problems at all." he said while holding her hand.  
  
A long, horrible howl was heard!  
  
"Yeah, right!" she sniffed as she held on tightly to John's arm. She then thought she heard the Enforcer chuckling. "What's so funny?" she asked.  
  
"You! Just listen to yourself! Ten minutes ago, you were as brave as a lion. But ever since we came into this place, your bravado has dropped to that of a mouse!" John laughed.   
  
Suddenly, a group of bat-like shrieks filled the air as the area the two echidnas were in began to fill with creatures as big as John's head. They had red, housefly-like eyes, bat-like wings with the front of them lined with sharp spikes, a mouth with protruding spikes in the front, and a group of slimy tentacles at the rear of their bodies.  
  
"Adon, what the hell are these things?!" John tried to shout over the loud shrieks.  
  
"Buatras!" Adon yelled over to him, "These things hunt in swarms!"  
  
"Wonderful! Let's get out of here!" John shouted.  
  
They ran out of the clearing where the swarm was. One of the wretched little creatures managed to latch on to Adonna-Lyn's nineth dreadlock with its tentacles and slashed at her arms with its wings. The echidna princess cried out in pain.  
  
John then turned around, grabbed the Buatra with his dreadlocks and blasted at its head, shouting, "DIE! DIE! DIE!" Within a matter of seconds, the winged beast was dead.  
  
He turned to the echidna princess, grabbed her by her waist and ran to refuge behind a large tree. The swarm flew right past them. He then noticed dark green blood on his hands and saw several nasty cuts in her skin.  
  
"Adon, you're bleeding!" John shouted.  
  
"I'll be okay. Really. You don't have to make such a big fuss." Adon said, trying to hide her wounds.  
  
"Whadya mean 'I'll be okay"?! For crying out loud, I've got to get you to a doctor or something!", John cried in protest.  
  
"Enforcer, there's NO NEED TO DO SO!" she yelled at him...just as the cuts began to heal themselves up!  
  
"Wait just a damn minute! You can heal yourself up, too?!" John shouted.   
  
"Yeah. Don't you?" she asked.  
  
"Umm...well..." John stuttered. He then thought, "Damn this tricky little wench! She's trying to expose me!"  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot. You're nothing but organs and guts in a suit of armor." she then said, apoligetically.  
  
"Yeah, right. Now, let's get going before we run into something else." John said as he helped her up onto her feet.  
  
  
  
Meanwhile, back at the highest peak of the Arachna Mountain Range...  
  
  
  
"BRUTUS! WHERE ARE YOU?! BRUTUS!" a shrill feminine voice yelled.  
  
The enourmous spider-like monster pulled himself out from under the rocks and boulders that crashed down on him, shook his head a bit, then surveyed what was left of his lair.  
  
To a cave-dwelling freak of nature, the sight was a nightmare. Several webs were still on fire, many of the corpses and skeletons that decorated his lair were smashed to pieces! On top of that, the armored bounty hunter and his prisoner were no where to be seen.  
  
"Good riddance! If I never see that scrawny royal brat or that goofball in the tin can again, it will be too soon." he snorted.  
  
"BRUTUS! YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO ANSWER ME, OR I WILL SEND AN ASTEROID CRASHING DOWN ON YOUR USELESS HEAD!" the voice shouted again.  
  
Brutus then went over to a diamond hidden under a group of webs, brushed the webs aside with his blade-tipped forelegs, and saw Blue Fang in the top part of the diamond!   
  
"EEEEP! I mean...Hieeee, Empress Blue Fang. Anything I can do for..." he started to say.   
  
Blue Fang, however interupted him and snarled, "Brutus, what the hell is going on over there?! I rudely woke up this morning to an ear-shattering explosion, and I found out that it came from YOUR side of the planet! Would you care to explain yourself?!"  
  
"Um...well, there was this big fight...I was thrown...the bounty   
  
hunter....the echidna princess...." he stuttered.  
  
Blue Fang's eyes began to glow a hellish-red as she yelled, "Quit your snivelling!" As she yelled these words, Brutus felt intense pain all over his body. But as her eyes began to disappate in glow, so did the pain that racked the Arachna's body.   
  
"Well, while I in this bottomless pit, waiting for the right moment to strike, he cut open the bubble prison and..." Brutus meekly said.  
  
"WHAAAAT?!" Blue Fang shrieked, "Brutus, if they make it to MY palace, I'm doomed! I don't care what it takes, but you had better stop them, unless you like the idea of being used as Taekwraith bait!"  
  
With that, the vixen enchantress's image faded from the diamond.  
  
Brutus then set himself to work, digging his way through the rocky debris...  
  
  
  
After a few more yards in the Death Forest, Adon collapsed to the ground, clutching her slender belly and moaning.  
  
"Hey! Are you alright?" John asked when he noticed what happened.  
  
"Gee, nice of you to finally show your concern!" she snapped   
  
sarcastically, "As for your question, no, I'm not alright! I'm extremely tired, my feet are killing me, and I'm very hungry!"  
  
"Hold on. I think I might have some food on me." John said as he began to search through his compartments on his armor. He then pulled out what certainly looked like pills.  
  
"You've got to be kidding me." Adon said while holding up one of the pills, "THIS is your FOOD?!"  
  
"Oh, then pardon me while I got to Pierre in the kitchen and smack him around for not serving you a nice souffle'." John sarcastically remarked while imitating a french accent, "Yes, that's the food, but it's very filling. It's a vitamen suppliment. All you do is chew and swallow."  
  
She looked at the pill for a moment, then gave John a dirty look. She then shoved the pill into her mouth and chewed on it for a moment. Her face turned nearly as green as the rest of her skin, and she immediately spat what remained of the pill out.  
  
John, while a bit amused by this, slammed his fist into a tree and knocked it down. "Damn it! These pills are very hard to come by!" he shouted at her.  
  
"Well, excuse me, but they taste terrible!" she shouted back at him.  
  
"You're not supposed to KEEP them in your mouth, stupid!" he retaliated.  
  
"Like I honestly knew that, you hot-headed weirdo!" she snapped.  
  
John growled for a bit then blurted out, "Oh, yeah? Well, I like you!"  
  
Adon was a bit stunned. She didn't expect that kind of response out of the fellow that just a minute ago was shouting at her angrily.  
  
John realized he had just made a blunder, then struggled to say,   
  
"Er...what I mean is...well...I...I...". "Aye-yiyi! How am I going to talk my way out of this one?" John thought. Then, at this bizarre moment, they both chuckled nervously.  
  
"Isn't that a laugh? Me, liking you!" John laughed aloud.  
  
Adon giggled a bit and said, "That is quite an amusing thought, though. I mean, a princess and a bounty hunter? It is quite laughable, isn't it?"  
  
After a few more bursts of laughter, they turned away from each other for a moment and thought, "*Gulp!* Yeah, imagine that!"  
  
"Well, let us not tally here anymore." she said while getting to her feet.  
  
"Yeah. After you." John said while gesturing to his right.  
  
But as the echidna princess took four steps forward, the ground gave way under her and she fell out of sight!  
  
"Adon!" John shouted. He ran up to the hole and saw a chute leading underground. With no other recourse, he jumped down the hole, too, but not before arming all of his weapons.  
  
The chute was a steep drop, but then curved forward to help break a person's fall. John slid down the chute, and landed on a grove of mushrooms. He looked about, but Adon was nowhere to be found. "Adon! Adon, where are you?" he shouted.  
  
"John, I'm over here! You've got to see this!" he heard her say   
  
excitedly.  
  
He followed her voice until he found her in a cavern near a dark, but shiny boulder that was as tall as he was in his armor.  
  
"So? It's a rock." John said.  
  
"It's not just any rock. It is a destiney stone." she explained while gesturing to the odd rock, "Our legends say that when you touch a destiney stone, it will reveal your destiney or fate. Oh, I never thought I would actually find one!"  
  
John normally would scoff at this because he never really believed in magic or powers different than his own. But, he was intrigued by the chance to see what the future will hold for him.  
  
"But the destiney stone's power lasts only for one person at a time and then it transfers its power to another stone." she finished saying.  
  
"Hey, that's fine with me, because I'm dying to see what the future holds for me." John said as he stepped forward to touch the stone.  
  
"Oh no, you don't! I'm the one who found it!" she shouted, grabbing his right wrist.  
  
John growled and said, "Oh, yeah? Well, since I'm you're escort and bodyguard, I think I should test it just to see if it's safe."  
  
"Oh, that's the lamest excuse I've ever heard!" she said as she began to grapple with the armored echidna.  
  
John grabbed her arms as they grappled and sneered, "Not anymore lame than that ' I'm the one who found it ' excuse!"  
  
But during their fight, they lost their balance and placed their hands on the destiney stone. The legendary rock began to glow.  
  
"Now, look what you did!" they shouted at each other, just a bright flash of light enveloped them...  
  
"One of royal blood, the other who bathes in blood...Both will come together,...wed,...and bear the child that will eliminate all evil...Thus is the great prophecy...and it shall be fulfilled..."  
  
As the flash of light faded, both echidnas felt warm breeze. They looked and saw sandy dunes ahead of them. They looked behind them and saw the Death Forest.  
  
"The destiney stone...It must have teleported us out of the Death Forest." Adon said as she looked back at the armored figure before her.  
  
"I can see that!" John snapped, "Now where the hell are we?"  
  
"Bumeria. Oh, wonderful!" she said while throwing up her hands in frustration.  
  
"What? What's wrong with this place? Doesn't look so bad." John   
  
commented.  
  
"If rely on sight alone, then you are truly blind. See that city over there?" she asked while pointing to what looked like a city straight out of the Arabian Nights.  
  
"Yeah. Not a bad-looking city, there." John commented, "What about it?"   
  
"That city is the home of a suitor of mine, and let me tell you, he is one of the worst! His name is Prince Jirrard." she explained.  
  
"What's so bad about him?" John asked.   
  
Adon then went on to explain Jirrard's past, which included the "rumored" secret murders of his parents and his older sister. She also said that Jirrard, against Chandral's laws, owns his own private harem.  
  
"Wait a minute! I saw several girls at your palace!" John interupted.  
  
Adon shook her head and explained, "The girls you've seen at my palace are servants; they are treated very well, as opposed to those poor slaves Jirrard has."  
  
"Seriously, what has this guy ever done to you?" John asked."He spit on my mother's grave, harassed several of the servant girls in my home, and a year ago, he tried to undress me in my own room!" she shouted at John.  
  
That promptly shut John up.  
  
"So, are we going to get moving already?" she asked.  
  
John, noticing terrible winds kicking up the desert sands, suggested, "Maybe we should camp here for the night. There's no point in going out into the desert and getting buried prematurely."  
  
Adon scowled for a moment, then lowered her head and said, "Oh, very well! I don't suppose you carry any tents in that armor of yours, do you?"  
  
"As a matter of fact, I do." John said as pulled out a couple of small cubes with a white button on top.  
  
She looked on in disbelief for a few seconds, then asked, "Let me guess: you want me to chew them, spit them out and then they'll turn into tents?"  
  
"Nope. You just push the button on top, like so, and toss it onto a desirable spot." John explained as he demonstrated. He pressed the button on one of the small cubes, then tossed it onto the outskirts of the desert. The cube expanded and turned into a tent large enough to fit ten people.  
  
The echidna princess stood there for a moment, then went over to the tent, opened up one side of it, peered into it, then turned to John and said, "I must say, I'm impressed. This is very inventive."  
  
"Well, that one is yours, if you want it." John offered.  
  
"Where will you sleep?" she asked.  
  
John held up another of the cubes and said, "I've got one of my own. I'll be sleeping over here." John walked over to her.  
  
"Well? Are you over here wishing me a good night's sleep?" she asked, a slight twinkle in her eye.  
  
"No. I want you to have this." John said as he handed a small object, so small, it could pass for a beetle.  
  
"What is it?" she questioned.  
  
John pointed out, "It's a tracking device. Um...think of it as a magical talisman, which will allow me to find you if you get separated from me. It would be wise if you hid this thing well. I've seen many a case where such a necessary item has been destroyed by the wrong kind of people."  
  
"Oh. Right." she said, sounding a bit disappointed. She then placed the device behind the jewel on her crown.  
  
John did note the disappointment in her tone of voice and asked, "Is something wrong?"  
  
She turned to him and immediately said, "Nothing! Nothing's wrong."   
  
"Good." John replied. He then went to his tent. But before he entered, he looked back at the echidna princess and tenderly whispered, "Pleasant dreams, fair lady."  
  
Once within the confines of his tent, John pulled out Interface, and said, "Interface, you up?"  
  
"All systems nominal, John. How may this unit serve you?" the hand-held computer asked.  
  
"Patch into my armor and set up a communication link with the   
  
ShadowHunter." he requested.  
  
"One moment, please..." Interface droned, "Connection established. Shall this unit provide an video display for the communication?"  
  
"Sure, go ahead." John replied.  
  
Interface used its hologram projector to display the cockpit of the ShadowHunter. Heavy was in the pilot's seat, facing a screen with a feminine-looking robot.  
  
"So, you have an RK5-Interface Module? Splendid!" Heavy said with great excitement.  
  
"What about room aboard your ship?" the fem-bot asked, a sickeningly flirtatious tone in her words.  
  
"Oh, I'm sure I can MAKE room for you, my dear." Heavy replied with a seductively low voice.  
  
"*Ahem!* Heavy, come in!" John commanded.  
  
Heavy nearly leaped out of the pilot's seat. "AAAAAAAH! Sir! I-I-I-I-I...." the Mechanix drone stuttered, "Um...Madame, could you excuse me for moment?"  
  
"Certainly, darling!" she said as she switched off the comm on her side.  
  
"Sir, about that 'making room' for the lady-bot..." Heavy started to say, his head lowered in shame.  
  
John laughed and said, "Forget it, Heavy. We'll skip the court-martial this time."  
  
"Thank you, sir." Heavy said, while wiping oil from his steel brow.  
  
"Have you been studying my progress?" he asked of his robotic companion.  
  
"Down to the last nanosecond, sir. I've noticed that you've picked up a girl on this hunt. From what I've seen, she's quite a catch, isn't she?" Heavy said while winking an optic sensor at his master.  
  
"Yes, she is quite a vision of lovliness. I swear, I've never met anyone as beautiful as her before." John replied with a slight sigh.  
  
Heavy rubbed the area under his vocabulator and said, "I've also noticed she has quite an additude, one that suggests a fiery, independent personality."   
  
"That she does. She's got a lot of spirit." John said while reclining against one side of the tent, "Whadya think, Heavy? Do you think a beautiful princess like her and a guy like me..."  
  
"No." Heavy abruptly interupted.  
  
John was a bit stunned by the interuption, but then said, "Yeah, you're right. Her cup of tea is probably guys who don't go around, hunting people with a price on their heads. Well, good night, Heavy."  
  
"Good night, sir." Heavy replied as he shut down the comm-link.  
  
As John closed up Interface, he reflected on what he and Heavy had spoken about. John, although for some unknown reason to hate her for her constantly admonishing him, could not explain what was coming over him, what was attracting him to her. Was he truly loosing his head over a girl?  
  
He dismissed the very thought of it. After all, she was a beautiful princess. He was lowly bounty hunter, which was considered galaxy-wide as scum. True, he was a decent-looking specimen of an echidna, but what would a girl like her see in him that she could not find in any other guy on her world?   
  
All this thought of him and the girl eventually gave John a headache. He yawned, closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber, unaware of two shadows approaching his little campsite...   
  
The next morning, John awoke to a strange surprise. It appeared to be dark outside of the tent.  
  
"Geez. Do the nights last this long on this planet?" John wondered. But he heard a sound. It sounded like cross between sand particles rubbing against each other and a strange, gutteral sucking noise. John immediately got into his armor. Something was seriously wrong!  
  
When he opened the tent, sand started to poor in. But it was slow and oozing its way in, not pouring in like sand in a sand clock.  
  
"QUICKSAND!" John shouted in utter surprise and horror. With no other option, he activate the drill option on for his claws and drilled his way to far more solid ground He then drilled to the surface. At the top of a sand dune, he surfaced, deactivated his helmet, and took in several long breaths of air. After that, he looked around. He then noticed a couple trails of foot prints leading away from the quicksand pit he was in.   
  
The footprints had three toes ending in a hooked claws, as well as an ankle claw. The footprints were of a reptillian nature.   
  
John then came to a horrifying realization: Adon was not with him!!!  
  
But before he began to panic, he opened up a panel on his right arm, which then displayed a radar screen. He then found the signal of the tracking device he gave the echidna princess. He turned it until the signal aimed straight ahead of him. He looked up from the radar screen and saw the city Adon had pointed out the day before.  
  
"So that's where she is." John muttered, "Then the guys who took her must've been slavers. And I'll wager credits to mobiums I know who they're taking her to."  
  
With that, he pressed a few more buttons. His armor (with the exception of his helmet) came off of him and formed a hovering motorbike-like vehicle. He then climbed aboard and drove the vehicle in the direction of the city ahead...  
  
Adon awoke with a start. She heard the sound of water trickling, like a water fountain. She also heard the sound of female voices in hushed tones. One female voice, an elderly one, said, "Good morning, young lady. I was wondering how long you were going to rest."  
  
She looked up and saw an old tuatara looking down on her. "Where am I? Who are you?" she asked frantically.  
  
"Take it easy, child. You shouldn't get yourself worked up like that. It isn't healthy for a girl your age." the kindly tuatara coaxed, "As for your questions, I am Satara. You are in the Bumeria city palace."   
  
Thinking about what the old reptile had answered, Adon came to an   
  
unpleasant conclusion: she was in Prince Jirrard's harem!  
  
"This is wrong! I don't belong here!" she said, while backing against the wall.  
  
"Ha! That's what I've been saying ever since the slavers brought me here!" a female hare laughed.  
  
"Shhh! He's coming!" a female cheetah shouted.  
  
The other girls, varying of every mammalian species, hurried themselves, putting on various jewels and veils as HE entered.   
  
He was a tall, brown-skinned echidna, about twenty-seven years old in appearance, had bushy eyebrows, and dark green eyes. His clothing (which was somewhat like Arabic royalty-type garb) was a dark red color, with a ridiculous-looking turban on his head with a peakcock-like feather sticking out of a green emerald piece, a billowing green cloak, and a pair of ornately jeweled sandals on his feet. Even though he was strikingly handsome for an echidna, there was a lustful, conniving air about him that made Adon sick.   
  
He looked at the echidna princess for a moment, then glared at his guards with a green glow in his eyes and a lustful grin on his face. Adonna-Lyn immediately knew it was going to mean trouble for her.  
  
Two guards, both weasals, came forward, grabbed the echidna princess, hauled her through the sandrock hallways, and threw her into a room that she vowed never to enter: Prince Jirrard's bedroom!  
  
"Make sure she stays in there!" the echidna prince ordered the guards, "I shall deal with her tonight!"  
  
"Wonderful!" Adon furiously thought, "To think of all the places I would wind up in, I appear here in Jirrard's bedroom. Ooh, he'll deal with me, alright!"  
  
She looked in a large oval-shaped mirror (it certainly proved what a vain being Jirrard was). She was wearin a blue silken veil in front of her face, silken yellow pants with slits on the sides to reveal her legs, a red strapless top, and bronze bracelets with a green veil attatched to them. She immediately recognized the outfit!  
  
"Why, it's my dancer disguise!" she thought in total surprise. In the past months (before her imprisonment in the bubble), she had used the outfit, in conjunction with her beauty and her graceful dance moves, to bring many a criminal to their knees and into a false sense of security, leaving them open to attack. But one night, after leaving her palace home and returning from a night outside of the palace, she was caught by her father. She would never forget that night...  
  
"Enjoy your night out?" a stern voice said from behind her as she climbed in through the window. She turned and saw her father giving her a look that would give a Taekwraith a run for its parents. Next to him was Neela, her head lowered in shame.  
  
"Daddy! I...well, that is..." the echidna princess cried out in surprise.   
  
"Adonna-Lyn, I can't believe this!" he shouted in utter surprise, "You left the protection of the palace, dressed up like some slave dancer, and get into a fight with the very riff-raff of our world. Aiii-ya! You could have been killed, child!"  
  
"I'm eighteen years old. I'm no longer a hatchling, father!" she said defiently.  
  
King Aaron, his breath coming out in short aggravated blasts, ordered, "Not another word! We shall discuss this in the morning. Neela, see to it that my daughter is cleaned up and prepared for bed."  
  
The squirrel servant girl bowed and acknowledged, "Yes, your Majesty."  
  
Adon telepathically heard her father's next thoughts and got her blood boiling, "Come tomorrow, I'm going to give that ridiculous outfit to Neela and have it sold in the market in Karlay."  
  
"Neela, how could you?! How could you told my father about this?!" Adon cried, tugging at the silken yellow pants in reference to her night-time activities.  
  
"He made me tell about your whereabouts. It is hard to hide anything from your species, Adon. I am so sorry about this." she replied sorrowfully.  
  
Adon then went up to her lady-in-waiting and patted her on the back, saying, "Neela, I'm sorry. This is entirely my fault. I shouldn't have gotten you involved as well."  
  
The squirrel servant girl, in addition to being Adonna-Lyn's lady-in-waiting, was also her adopted sister. Neela was the unfortunate survivor of a brutal Arachna attack upon her home village. She was unfortunate in that she lost her family and her friends. But Adonna-Lyn's father took pity on the girl and took her into the Supreme Chandral Palace, where she was made a servant girl...  
  
  
  
The echidna princess's thoughts were interrupted by a voice in her mind. It was the Enforcer!  
  
"Adon...Can you hear me?" he asked her mentally.  
  
She then closed her eyes and tried to concentrate. While she was very powerful for her age, she still lacked the control she needed to maintain her powers. She telepathically replied, "Yes, Enforcer, I hear you! Thank Chandrala, you're alive! I was worried when I saw those slavers throw your tent into a pit of quicksand."  
  
"Okay, after that, I'm a little fuzzy. Tell me what happened when I got dumped out there in the desert." John asked.  
  
Adon took in a deep breath and explained, "I, on the other hand was dragged, still in the tent you provided for me, all the way here until I was dropped out of the tent and right at the feet of Prince Jirrard. I was too tired to even fight, so I fell asleep. The next thing I know, I found myself in the meat locker, with all the other pieces of meat that sexist swine keeps around for his personal amusement! But when I get the chance, I'm going to..."  
  
"Whoa, slow down there, Princess." John mentally cautioned her, "Don't forget that he murdered his parents and his older sister to rise to where he is today. If he went through them that easily, he could also do the same to you. So, here's the plan..."  
  
With that, the echidna princess listened intently to what John had to telepathically say. But as John finished, she mentally shouted, "Are you crazy?! I am not going to do that, especially for a rude, disgusting, putrid spawn of a Taekwraith like him!"  
  
"Well, it's either that or you can spend the rest of your life as his little love-slave. Your choice." John stated.  
  
Adon scowled a bit. "Oh, alright. But you had better show up before he does something rather nasty, if you catch my drift." she replied.  
  
No response.  
  
"Great. Well, it looks like I'm on my own until nightfall." Adonna-Lyn muttered as she decided to lie down on a pile of cushions nearby.  
  
The hours passed by slowly, the warm desert breeze gracing her soft skin. Eventually, she became bored waiting so long for the armored echidna to arrive. But at the thought of him, other thoughts entered her mind. Why was she even concerned with a being she hardly knew anything about? And furthermore, why did she have such feelings for him?  
  
Her thoughts were interupted by her growing tiredness. As time continued to flow, her eyelids became very heavy, right to the point where she couldn't keep them open. With that, she fell asleep.  
  
But as the hot desert sun gave way to the cool star-lit night, the echidna princess was awoken by the slamming of doors. She looked and saw Prince Jirrard standing at the door to his bedroom, locking it. He then looked towards her with a lustful grin.  
  
"Never did I imagine the day that the most beautiful girl in all of Chandral would come right to my palace and to be at my feet!" he chortled as he slowly approached her, "Normally, I thought you hated me. For no reason at all, of course."  
  
"Why should I hate you, a handsome man of an echidna like you?" she asked while gracefully stepping towards him.   
  
Jirrard was stunned. He did not expect this from the girl who orginally hated his guts. He went over to his bed and sat down. "My word, what brought this about?" he wondered.  
  
He felt a slight vibration. He looked and saw Adonna-Lyn sitting right next to him, gazing into his eyes intently. "Why are you so shy around me, Jirrard? Are you afraid that I'll bite?" she asked in a voice so charming and soothing, that the echidna prince could not resist but listen. She began to scoot herself closer to Jirrard, with a deliberate slowness and grace. Jirrard, even though he had Adonna-Lyn right where he wanted her, backed away from her until he was at the pillows of his bed.  
  
"Why, Adonna-Lyn, what's come over you?" he asked.  
  
She smiled, undid the veil around her mouth and said, "Oh, nothing. I'm just crazy about you. It must have been those long, long nights in the desert if Bumeria that convinced me to be with you." She inched herself so close to Jirrard, she could almost smell what he had for dinner on his breath.   
  
Suddenly, something wrapped around Jirrard's throat and hoisted him into the air. Adon immediately got away from the bed in total terror. Once she was a good distance away, she saw what was happening.   
  
Appearing above Jirrard, like a fog rolling away from a swamp, was the Enforcer! One of his armored dreadlocks encircled Jirrard's neck. Adon noticed that the dreadlock began to tighten its grip around Jirrard's neck. The Enforcer was going to strangle Jirrard to death!  
  
"Enforcer, DON'T!" she shouted.  
  
The armored echidna looked down at her and asked, "Wasn't it you who wanted to see this fiend punished?"  
  
"Enforcer, if you kill him, you'll be no better than he is!" she warned.  
  
With a warning like that, John turned towards Jirrard, then dropped him down on the ground. "You're right, princess. Now, let's get you home." he said as he gathered her into his arms.  
  
"You're not going anywhere!" Jirrard snarled as he unsheathed a scimitar from the wall of his room. But then, one of the dreadlocks of John's armor fired a crimson blast at the echidna prince's leg! The echidna prince screamed out in pain.  
  
Adonna-Lyn shouted, "Enforcer!"  
  
"He'll live." he replied as he jumped out of the window.  
  
"Not agaaaaaaain!" she screamed as they fell straight towards the ground. John then had one of the dreadlocks of his armor fly out and clamp onto a citizen's balcony. They both stopped about eight inches from the ground.  
  
"And you were worried." John jokingly remarked as he set her down on her bare feet.  
  
"Gatas! Gatas! Compa da Adon kes tupa chun meteela corpso!" Jirrard shouted.  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I don't exactly speak Chandralese. What did he just say?" John asked.  
  
Adon replied, "He said, 'Guards! Guards! Capture Adon and kill the metal one!' I can't believe you didn't understand that!"  
  
"I'm new here. So sue me!" John remarked.  
  
"What?" she asked, not understanding the metal echinda's last statement.   
  
"Forget it. Let's just get as far away from this city as possible." John ordered as he took hold of her wrist and ran towards the front gate of the city. He stopped for a moment then opened a compartment of his armor. "I believe this is yours." John said while handing her a familiar set of clothes.  
  
"My casual clothes! How did you...?" she asked.  
  
"Ran into a few friends of ours. The slavers. They were planning on selling it when they ran afoul of me. They found out why it's wrong to cross me in a foul mood...the hard way!" John said.  
  
"Hmm. Maybe you're not so bad after all." she said as she ducked into a building. "Where are you going?" he asked.  
  
She looked back at him and said, "To change my clothes in private. Why don't you make yourself useful and keep an eye out while I change? And make sure you don't get any ideas."  
  
After that, she came back with a back-sack on her back with the harem girl clothes in it. "It might come in handy later. Now let's get out of here." she said while looking around a bit.   
  
Adon took notice of a couple of stables and said, "Enforcer, I have an idea."   
  
She then guided him into the stables, where a pair of two legged reptiles stood. They came up to John's chest in height, had heads resembling that of a dinosaur known as Stegosaurus, and had a tail as long as John's dreadlocks. Their scales were in a tiger-like pattern of red and green.  
  
"What are these things?" John asked.  
  
"These are Karies. Don't worry. They're herbivores." Adon said as she hopped onto one of the creature's backs. The creature gave out a cry like an eagle.  
  
"Are you sure these things are safe to ride?" he asked.  
  
The echidna princess looked at John and said, "They're perfectly safe. Now, come on! It's a wonder they haven't caught us already."  
  
"There they are! Stop them!" a weasal guard shouted.  
  
Without further delay, John mounted one of the scaly creatures, seized the reins, and followed Adon as they stampeded over the guards and ran to the city walls. However, as a whole platoon of guards blocked their way at the gate, Adon turned her Kari towards a far wall.   
  
"Adon! Wait! That's just a dead end!" he shouted after her.  
  
But then, an extraordinary thing happened. The reptile Adon was riding began running up the wall as normally as it would on the ground. As she reached the top of the wall, she called down, "Come on, Enforcer. Let's go!"  
  
John then snapped on the reins and urged the beast up and over the wall.   
  
Now both of the echidnas were on their way. But as they passed several dunes, several riders, all on Karies, rode after them. They were dressed in dark robes, and were of varying species of animals native to deserts.  
  
"Marauders!" Adon cried, "Enforcer, hurry!"  
  
John did hurry...to the point where he was practically ahead of the echidna princess. But at one point of the pursuit, one of the marauders fired a poison-tipped arrow at the right leg of Adon's Kari and forced both the rider and her mount to tumble into a deep sand pit.  
  
John, noticing what had happened, turned his Kari around and led it towards where Adon fell. One of the mauraders, a cobra, spit a glob of dark red ooze that hit the Kari right in the eye. John's Kari screamed in pain and launched him off and down into the sand pit with Adonna-Lyn.  
  
"Enforcer! Are you alright?" she asked as she went over to him and helped him to his clawed, armored feet.  
  
"Never mind me. Are you alright?" he asked of her.  
  
"Just a few scratches, but I'll be okay." she replied while clutching her left arm.  
  
The cobra who spit his venom at John's Kari stood over one side of the pit and called down, "It is hopeless to resist. Surrender immediately, and we will ensure that you will be returned to Prince Jirrard in one piece."  
  
Upon hearing those words, John challenged, "You want her? It'll be over my dead body!"  
  
"Don't be absurd, Enforcer!" Adon cautioned, "You don't stand a chance against ALL of them!"  
  
"I'll be fine, Adon. Just stay behind me." the armored figure before her said as he gently pushed her behind himself.  
  
"Kobroth! Sandstorm approaching!", shouted one of the marauders.  
  
Both echidnas watched as the marauders scattered as a loud whistling noise was heard. John had one of the mechanical dreadlocks of his armor peer over the top of the pit and see what was going on, much like a make-shift periscope.  
  
The "sandstorm" turned out to be a yellow swirling tornado of sand. But as it approached the sand pit, it began to vanish, a humanoid figure standing in its place. It was a young female kangaroo mouse, dressed in tattered silken clothes of an ochre color, wielding a rod with two long, sharp blades sticking out of both ends of the rod. In a flash, the blades were withdrawn into the rod.  
  
"Marauders!" she muttered in a slighty high voice, "Miserable pieces of scum. Picking on defenseless travelers!"  
  
She then came up to the pit and called down, "Hey, are you two alright?"  
  
Adon squinted as she looked upwards. Her eyes went wide with surprise as she happily cried, "Karsa, is that you?"  
  
"Karsa?" the female kangaroo mouse asked quizically. She then snapped her hands and said, "Ah, you must mean my mother. I'm her daughter, Katin."  
  
"Oh." Adon said in realization.  
  
Katin kneeled before the edge of the pit and rummaged through her   
  
backpack. She then pulled out a rope and tossed one end down. "Here, grab on! I'll pull you out."  
  
Adon grabbed ahold. The echidna princess then looked over to the Enforcer and said, "Come on."  
  
"No thanks. I have my own methods for getting up there." John replied as a light enveloped him. In a flash, he vanished! He then reappeared next to Katin.  
  
"Need a hand?" he asked of the girl.   
  
She stared at him for a moment, stunned by the sudden appearance of the metallic monstrosity before her. But without further adeiu, she proceeded to pull on the rope and help Adonna-Lyn out of the pit. Once the echidna princess was out, Katin said, "C'mon! Let's get out of here before they come back!"  
  
A dark form soared over the landscape of Chandral and landed at an oasis amidst Bumeria's sandy dunes. It snuck up upon a small encampment, where several marauders were clapping and jeering as a scantily-clad, lithe fox was bellydancing for their pleasure.   
  
The girl, her red-orangish hair flowing behind her, slowly wavered her hips, the small coins and bells jingling on her ankles and on the tapering, magenta silken dress she wore. Even though such a profession was heavily looked down upon by Chandralite society, she felt that dancing gave her the attention of just about every male on her world, and that was all she ever wanted.   
  
One of the marauders, a rattlesnake, slapped his coils around the girl's ankle and drew her close to him as she finished. "Not ssssso fasssssst, pretty one. I wish to futher enjoy your pressssencsssse." he said in a hissing tone.  
  
Suprisingly, the girl giggled flirtatiously as she wrapped her tail around his scaly back.  
  
Suddenly, something whipped out of the bushes and attatched itself to the girl's back. It then began to quickly drag the girl away from the marauders and into the dark surroundings of the oasis. The girl turned around, saw a line of webs, then began to panic and struggle to break away from whatever was pulling her away from the group.   
  
The marauders quickly went for their spears and their weapons as the girl was dragged into the bushes. They heard the cries of her struggles, then a long horrible scream of utter terror, followed by several shrieks. With the girl's noises heard a completely different set of sounds, what sounded like low-pitched growling and evil-sounding chuckles rolled into one.  
  
They charged into a clearing and were utterly daunted by what they saw.  
  
It was Brutus!   
  
They watched in horror as they saw the fox's legs kicking about furiously outside of the Arachna's mouth, hearing her desparate cries for help. Then, there was a mind-numbing crunch of bones. The dancer's legs straightened out for a moment, then fell limp, the unfortunate girl's blood pouring like a cursed stream out of the spider-like monster's mouth.  
  
Brutus slurped up the girl's legs and commented, "Hmm...tastes like chicken!"  
  
The marauders, not knowing what else to do, threw down their weapons and beat a hasty retreat.  
  
But as Brutus threw up the girl's costume, the small pond nearby began to glow. A particually nasty voice then shouted, "Brutus! Brutus, come in!"  
  
Immediately, Brutus responded. The water from the pond then shaped itself into a lithe vixen. Once again, it was Blue Fang! "Oh, Empress Blue Fang! I...I was just on the hunt for the echidna princess. I really think I'm getting close!" he stuttered.  
  
The vixen enchantress noticed a bit of tattered silk hanging out of the Arachna's mouth and snapped, "It looks to me like you decided to have a midnight snack! Brutus, can't you think with any part of your body other than your stomach?!"  
  
"Well, I..." Brutus stuttered.  
  
"Shut up!" Blue Fang ordered, "I have a little gift for you." The sand in front of Brutus then shifted and transformed into a dark-colored diamond.  
  
"Wha...What is it?" Brutus asked as the diamond flew and hovered over his head.  
  
Blue Fang grinned and explained, "It is insurance that the Enforcer will be destroyed at your claws. Just have the sun beat its light into it, aim it at that armored bounty hunter, and his armor shouldn't be a problem for you. With the Enforcer out of the way, kill Adonna-Lyn! That is all." With that, the watery image of the vixen dissapated and splashed back into the pond.  
  
Brutus, filled with new strength and ambition, took to the air...   
  
  
  
Once they reached the outskirts of a jungle-like region known as Rotaro, the trio came to a stop.  
  
"Are we far away enough?" John sarcastically asked.   
  
Katin took in several deep breaths, then answered, "Yes, we should be far away from the marauders. Their range goes only as far as the desert sands of Bumeria, no further than that." She then turned to Adonna-Lyn and asked, "How did you know my mother's name?"  
  
Adon replied, "She and her husband served the Supreme Royal Family against the Order of Darkness before I was hatched. My father told me of your parents' exploits. Where are they?"  
  
Katin, however, lowered her head sadly. Adon knew that look. "What happened?" she asked.  
  
The kangaroo mouse replied, "During the last month, my hometown's   
  
residents rose in rebellion against Blue Fang as she claimed power. I was away on a Nikto berry harvest...I returned to my village...and..." She did not finish for then, she broke down into mournful sobs.  
  
Adon put her left hand on Katin's shoulder and said, "Katin, I'm sorry that I brought it up. I know what it's like to lose a loved one. My mother was killed by Blue Fang when I was only a year old."  
  
"Well, now I have the Force to guide me. I've been out on my own, training and adapting to many of our world's environments. Soon, I shall become a Jedi Knight, like my parents before me." Katin said, her head held high.  
  
"Oh, great. Another stinkin' Jedi!" John thought. His previous   
  
experience with Jedi, namely Dave the Hedgehog and Kenny the Vampire Bat of Mobius, left him believing that the Force-using fools were boring to be around and dangerous to fight with. Only Dave and his young Padawan were the only ones who truly rivaled his fighting prowess.   
  
"So, who's ol' tin pants?" Katin asked.  
  
"I'll have you know, young lady, that this is one hundred percent   
  
Ditanium-Alloy and not some cheap metal like tin!!!" John shouted at the girl while pounding on his armored chestplate.  
  
"Enforcer, show some respect! She is a Jedi!" Adonna-Lyn scolded.  
  
The Enforcer glared at the echidna princess and was tempted to wrapping his hands around her throat and strangling her. And yet, he didn't!  
  
Katin tapped Adonna-Lyn on the shoulder and requested, "Your Highness, may I have a word with you in private?"  
  
"Sure. Enforcer, stand down." Adonna-Lyn replied while shooting John an angry glance.  
  
Once the two girls were out of listening distance, Katin asked, "Adon, I would be careful with this guy you're with. I have a terrible feeling that he isn't what he seems."  
  
"Don't worry, Katin." the echidna princess replied, "If he wanted to kill me, he would have done so by now. But...for some reason, he hasn't. I can't explain why, but I don't think his intentions towards me are hostile."  
  
"Well, what kind of man could ever bring himself to kill you? I mean, you are practically the most beautiful girl of all on Chandral." Katin suggested.  
  
"Well, I didn't ASK to BE beautiful in the first place." Adon replied, "It just...you know, happened. I had no say in the matter. I just became the beautiful daughter of King Aaron, and that's that."  
  
"Adon...just be careful around this guy." Katin cautioned.  
  
They then returned to John.   
  
"So?" John asked.  
  
"None-of-your-damn-business." Adon sharply told him.  
  
Katin warned, "Just a little word of caution for you two: Rotaro has several overlander encampments! If you're going to reach the Supreme Royal Palace, I suggest that you watch where your paths lead you."  
  
"Overlanders?! HERE?!" John thought angrily. He had once come in contact with the human-like bastards back on Mobius and they nearly shot him to death! Of course, he got them before they got him, but it left a horrible scar in John's memory...one that created his hatred towards the nearly fur-less species known as humans.  
  
"I must tell you, Enforcer, the overlanders here are far more different than the ones on your world. They are more violent, even though they are not as technologically advanced or as intelligent. Their problem with my people is that our kind stumbled upon their food source and they've been retaliating ever since." Adonna-Lyn explained.  
  
"I see. Well, since they're not so smart, I guess that makes those poorly-evolved apes all the more easier to kill." John said, "Say, Katin, what kind of weapon is that?"  
  
Katin held up the weapon, pushed a small grey button on one side, and "unsheathed" the twin blades while replying, "This is a de'kar stick, the weapon of the Chandral Jedi. Nowhere near as deadly as those glowsticks normal Jedi Knights wield, but an effective weapon nontheless. It is often rumored that these fine weapons enhance a Jedi's powers and control of the Force."  
  
"I'm surprised you don't use that to kick some major overlander booty!" John chuckled.  
  
Katin answered to that remark with a comtemptuous blast of air from her nose and said, "It is against the moral code of the Jedi Knights to use our skills for anything but knowledge and defense."  
  
"Good grief. The kid's turning into Dave the Hedgehog right before my eyes." John thought glumly, rolling his eyes under his armor.  
  
Katin turned to Adonna-Lyn, pointed one blade of her weapon through the jungle wilds and instructed, "Karlay is the closest village between here and the Supreme Royal Palace. You should be able to reach in about...a week or so."  
  
"Thank you very much for the help, Katin." Adon said as she waved goodbye to the young Jedi-to-be and, with John, pressed into the jungle wilds of Rotaro.  
  
"My pleasure, your Highness." Katin replied while waving back, "And, Adonna-Lyn..."  
  
"Oh, good grief, here it comes!" John muttered bitterly.  
  
"May the Force be with you!" Katin said.  
  
Once Adonna-Lyn and her hired armored escort were deep into the jungle depths, the echidna princess slapped John upside the head.  
  
"Hey! What was that for?!" he asked of her.  
  
Adon was giving him a very aggravated look while scolding, "Enforcer, I can't believe how rude you can be! She was giving us a hand and all you did was give her a hard time!"  
  
"I just don't like Jedi, OKAY?!" John harshly replied.  
  
Adonna-Lyn then became so mad that she shot a large beam of neon green psychic energy and plowed down several trees!   
  
John stood there, shocked by Adon's demonstration of power and anger.  
  
"C'mon! The sooner we reach my home, the shorter our time together will be!" Adonna-Lyn stated while storming off in the direction of the sound of rushing water.  
  
"Yeah...right." John said as he carefully followed the echidna princess, not wishing to end up like the trees Adonna-Lyn just vaporized in her rage.  
  
Three days later...  
  
"Enforcer, if I even see you take those pills out of your armor plating, I'm going to call the deal off and continue on my own." Adonna-Lyn threatened as she and John sat down to rest their weary selves.  
  
John, too sick and tired to even argue, replied, "Then what shall we do to satisfy our nutritional requirements?"  
  
Adonna-Lyn looked beyond the armored bounty hunter and noticed something. "Simple. Follow me."  
  
He did follow the echidna princess until they came to a large, circular clearing. At the center of the clearing was a large, plant-like structure.  
  
It seemed to have the appearance of a mutated Victreebel, with height of thirty feet, a circle of yellow glowing eyes near the "top" of the plant, a group of long limp vines surround the mid-section, and a number of fist-sized blood red berries and green bushes at the base of the plant.  
  
"This, Enforcer, is a Nikto plant. Those berries at the base are the food source for me and my people." she explained.  
  
"Hmm...those berries certainly look sumptuous. Wait here while grab a few." the Enforcer said as he began to step into the clearing. Adonna-Lyn, however, stopped him and pulled him back into the bushes.  
  
"Are you crazy?!" Adon chided, "You nearly got yourself killed!"  
  
John was greatly puzzled. The plant looked lifeless enough...  
  
Suddenly, there was a rustling at the left of the two echidnas' position. Out of the bushes was a young, thin, and pretty human being. She appeared to be dressed in small outfit made of animal skins. She tried to slowly go back into the underbrush, only to be shoved back by a hairy arm and several odd grunts. From the looks of it, she was greatly frightened by the large Nikto plant.   
  
And, as John observed, it was with good reason.  
  
The Nikto plant opened its glowing yellow eyes and focused its attention on the girl. Then, its limp, lifeless vines came to life! They quickly wrapped around the girl's neck, mouth, arms, waist, and legs and began to pull her close to the titanic plant. The girl struggled with all her might to break free, but it was to no avail. The vines began to hoist the screaming girl into the air and towards the top of the killer vegetable. Several large leaves unfolded from the circular top of the plant and dumped the girl in. John watched as the sun's light was pouring into the "mouth" of the plant and saw a silhouette of the girl kicking and punching at the inside of the plant, trying to catch onto the side of the plant and climb out. But even that proved in vain, as the sides proved to be slippery and provented her from getting so much as a toe on the sides. The leaves folded, sealing up the mouth as well as the girl's doom. John continued to hear her screams and see bulges against the inside of the murderous tree. Then, there was a sound like a liquid pouring into the interior of the plant. A hideous hissing noise was heard as the girl's screams now became high-pitched with her horror. Then, there was nothing but silence. The plant made a gurgling sound before it's bulging lower-trunk decreased in size, as if it had swallowed the mouthful it had. The Nikto plant then closed its glowing eyes, contented with satisfying its hellish appetite.  
  
"My God!" John thought in horrified awe, "Not even the plant life on this world is docile!"  
  
"And here come the freaks now." Adonna-Lyn muttered with disgust as three ugly Overlander males entered the clearing. They then began to gather the blood red berries at the base of the murderous plant, totally oblivious to the fact that one of their own was maliciously killed and melted by some kind of digestive enzymes in the Nikto plant.  
  
"Typical males." John heard Adonna-Lyn mutter under her breath. It then occured to John that perhaps the echidna princess had so many bad experiences with men, that she practically felt that every male on the planet (except for her father) were nothing but scum. John then noticed something very odd. The eyes of the plant were opened only slightly, as if it were watching the savages at its base...  
  
As soon as the animal skin-clad brutes collected their fill, one of them stood there, eyeing his load hungrily. His two associates turned, saw where he was and began grunting toward him. The hideous-looking one took five of the berries and crammed them into his mouth. John then saw the plant make an expression with its glowing yellow eyes, as if to say, "GOTCHA!"  
  
The overlander realized his mistake far too late. His eyes began to bulge like a toad, his tongue hanging limply out of his mouth. He fell to his knees, clutching his throat, making inarticulate screams and choking noises. Then, his skin turned a horrible red, as if every blood vessel in his repulsive being had exploded. With a final gasp, he fell face down, dead. The plant then wrapped its vines around the dead overlander and dropped it into its maw in the same fashion as it did to the girl. The overlander's friends looked each other, shrugged, then quietly slinked back into the underbrush.  
  
"Geez! The berries must be poisonous!" John gasped in total horror at what he had just witnessed, "And THAT'S your people's favorite food source?!"  
  
"A few members of my kind found out that when the berries are exposed to plain, ordinary water, the poison is removed from the berries, making them safely edible." Adonna-Lyn explained, "My people also found that the Nikto berry's juice makes quite a cure-all against any or all diseases or poison attempts."  
  
"How are we going to get close to that thing without either of us winding up as plant chow?" John asked.  
  
Adonna-Lyn winked at John and said, "Leaf everything to me."  
  
John groaned at her pun.  
  
Then, John watched her as she did the unthinkable: she was walking towards the Nikto plant.  
  
"Adon, are you nuts?! Get back here! That thing is carnivorous!" John whispered to her loudly.  
  
The echidna princess paid no heed to the Enforcer's warnings as she then stopped in front of the killer plant. It opened its yellow eyes and focused its attention on her. The tentacle-like vines sprang to life.  
  
"Oh, I can't bear this anymore!" John thought as he began to get out of his hiding place. But then, something began to pierce his mind like a knife through the heart. Adonna-Lyn's eyes were glowing. John took that as his cue to return to his spot.  
  
The vines began to wrap around her waist, legs, and arms. John turned away, not wanting to see the fate that awaited the echidna princess!  
  
But something miraculous occured. There wasn't any screaming or sounds of her struggling. He looked, and saw the echidna princess...dancing?!  
  
She was wavering her arms, undulating her hips, going up and down on her toes. Surprisingly, the plant released its grip on her, pulled its vines back and watched her carefully as she danced before it. There was nothing frantic or hurried about her dance moves. It was very mesmerizing and graceful, like rolling ocean waves or the wind blowing across the treetops. John then felt that he was not watching a mere princess but a force of nature. There was certainly more to the echidna princess than he had given credit her for.  
  
She came to a finish: kneeling down, her head facing the ground, her arms spread out to her left and right.   
  
The plant's glowing yellow eyes were closed, as if the thing had fallen asleep.  
  
But Adonna-Lyn rose to her feet, she heard a rather disturbing sound. It sounded like someone was breathing, but there was a mechanical quality that...well, didn't sound normal to her. She went over to the bushes and saw the Enforcer, curled up into a little sideways ball. His eyes were not glowing. It was almost as if he was...asleep.  
  
"After all you've been doing, I think you could use some rest." Adonna-Lyn thought as she slightly giggled, "Sleep well, Enforcer." With that, she took the bag the overlander left behind and began to gather a few more Nikto berries.  
  
After a couple of minutes, however, John awoke to Adonna-Lyn shouting, "Let go of me! Enforcer!"  
  
He looked about. Adonna-Lyn was nowhere to be found!  
  
Immediately, he directed his attention towards the Nikto plant, suspecting that the vile vegetable was only fake sleeping and it was in the middle of devouring the echidna princess. No, no. Otherwise, he would have seen bulges from within the plant and heard her screaming from within. No, the Nikto had nothing to do with that. He then noticed footprints on both sides of a slight wide trail of dirt.   
  
"Overlanders!" John growled, "If those human-like bastards harm her..."  
  
Knowing that standing around like that would accomplish nothing he ran in the direction of the footprints.  
  
  
  
"Release me at once!" Adonna-Lyn shouted from the net the overlanders were dragging her in, "You can't do this to me. I'm a princess, damn it!"  
  
Even though the net appeared to be exceptionally crude, it seemed to be strong enough to repel her struggles.   
  
At one point, the overlanders dropped the net on the ground and were grunting at each other for moment. Adonna-Lyn took this moment to look for the opening of the net. But her heart sank. There wasn't any openings. "How am I ever going to get out of this one?" she wondered.  
  
Then one of the overlanders approached her. His partner was chuckling behind him. The one that came up to her reached into the net and started touching her while his friend was laughing his numbskull head off. Adon became enraged. Never had she been so man-handled in her life...well, except that for that one time around Prince Jirrard...  
  
To vent her rage, she bit his hand.  
  
This caused the overlander to shout and wave his hand about as he tried to relieve himself of the pain he had just so recently suffered. His buddy, a younger overlander, fell on the ground laughing.  
  
The older one came over to him and slapped him silly! He seized a rock as big as his bare chest and prepared to bring it down upon Adon's head! But before he did, something charged out of the surrounding jungle and tackled the brute. The rock almost fell on her...until a bright light from the attacker blasted it to dust. It was the Enforcer!  
  
John wrestled with the overlander and managed to land a punch that shattered the ugly being's bottom jaw. The other overlander pulled out a club and began to pummel at the Enforcer's tough armor with it. John, becoming annoyed, had his claws come out of his fists and sliced the club into three slices. The overlander, realizing he had no weapon to fight the shiny metal demon before him, retreated into jungle wilds.   
  
John, not letting the nearly-bald ape get away with their cruel treatment towards Adonna-Lyn, pursued the overlander and began stabbing him wildly with his claws.  
  
Suddenly, he heard Adonna-Lyn screaming!  
  
John slapped his head for not remembering his obligation to protect the echidna princess. He ran back to where he left her and found her, hangin upside-down in the overlander's net, her feet stuck to a tree branch ten feet off the ground. He looked carefully and saw webs binding her feet to the tree. She was furiously fighting to free herself. She turned to see him, and shouted, "Enforcer, get out of here! It's a trap!" Then, there was an earthquake-like thump behind the armored echidna.  
  
"Oh, shit!" John cursed, realizing what was behind him and what was behind Adonna-Lyn's present predicament. He turned around and stared down the maw of Brutus the Arachna!  
  
"Boo." Brutus cackled. Then, a dark green jewel appeared over the spider-like monster's head. A ray of the sun's light hit the jewel, then fired a crimson red beam at the Enforcer. As the beam made contact, it deactivated John's armor!  
  
"Oh, double shit!" John muttered in terror as Brutus lunged at him with its knife-like legs. John knew that he was very much vulnerable to the Arachna's attacks, so he did his best to dodge Brutus's every move.  
  
Adonna-Lyn was stunned. The Enforcer told her he was nothing but blood and guts under his armor. And now, she saw the bounty hunter's true form. He did look rather handsome to her...but then, another notion entered her head: The Enforcer lied to her. Her! The princess of Chandral! Well, if he DID survive this encounter, she would certainly give him a piece of her mind, and it wouldn't be by yelling at him!   
  
At one point of the battle, John managed to trick the Arachna into digging its knife-like legs into the ground and getting them stuck. As Brutus thrashed and tried to pull his forelegs out, John ran past him and over to Adonna-Lyn.  
  
"I can't believe it! You're actually a living being under all that!" Adon shouted at him, "Why did you lie to me? Did you think I was stupid?!"  
  
"Adon, this is a REALLY bad time to be discussing this." John said while watching Brutus and looking about his being for his lightsaber.  
  
"Who are you?" she harshly asked, "And this time, tell me the truth!"  
  
"Adonna-Lyn, I'm sorry that I lied to you, but you have to understand that doing that comes with my line of work." John apologized.   
  
He finally found his lightsaber and said, "Alright. I'm gonna cut you free of this. Once you're out of the net, I need you to...AAAAAAAARGH!"  
  
Brutus managed to get his forelegs free and he slashed at the blue echidna's right hand, causing him to drop his lightsaber. "Time to die, you little dreadlocked vermin!" Brutus laughed cruelly.   
  
Realizing how limited his options were getting, John pulled out his blaster and fired at Brutus's eyes. "C'mon. C'MON! You want me, you ugly lump of shit? Come and get me!" he angrily shouted as he fired round after at the Arachna.  
  
"Enforcer, what are you doing? Your shots are just bouncing off of him!" Adon telepathically yelled.  
  
"You think I don't know that?" John telepathically replied, "Right now, I'm trying to get him away from you. If you can find my lightsaber, you can cut yourself free and get the hell outta here while I hold him off."  
  
"Have you lost your mind as well as your armored exterior?" Adonna-Lyn mentally called, "He'll kill you!"  
  
John's next telepathic words were very solemn. "Perhaps he will. Besides, I deserve death for what I've done in my lifetime. But maybe, I'll die happy knowing that I've done something good for once: giving you a chance to return home, alive, safe, and well."  
  
Adon looked about for John's lightsaber, found it, then utilized her psychic powers to deliver the odd handle of the weapon into her hands. She looked about the weapon, then telepathically asked, "John, how do you activate the blades on this thing?"  
  
"Press the grey switch if you want one blade and hit the black one for both blades to come out!" John mentally instructed.  
  
For safety's sake, Adonna-Lyn aimed one shaft of the blade to her left when she activted one of the invincible blades of light. She carefully directed the blade towards her feet and had the tip cut away at the webs Brutus used to suspend her in the tree. That did the trick. Unfortunately, it caused her to fall on her head.  
  
"Ow! I hope I never do that again." she thought as she rubbed the top of her head. She then used the lightsaber to cut her way out of the overlander-made net. But as she got out of it, she heard the most horrible cry. She turned and saw a deep gash in John's back going from the blue echidna's left shoulder down to his right hip. Brutus knocked John down to the ground and began to shove his body around like a cat playing with its meal. Brutus then prepared to deliver a final blow.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Adonna-Lyn shouted as she ran towards Brutus.  
  
"What the...how did you get free?!" Brutus shouted in surprise.  
  
Adon, too angry to reply, ran so fast that she practically became a green and blue blur to Brutus as she charged at him. She cut off his legs, destroyed the jewel that deactivated John's armor, and drove the blade into Brutus's brain. Within seconds, the large Arachna was dead.  
  
She looked at John. His teeth were clenched with pain, the gash releasing his dark green blood out in large quantities. When she got close to him, she practically heard his heart beating slowly.   
  
"By Chandrala!" she thought, "He's dying! Unless..."  
  
She knelt down along John's left side. She brushed as much dirt as she could away from John's wound to keep it from getting in. She knew she was going to need Nikto berry juice to keep the wound from getting infected. She remembered the Nikto berries the overlander's had with them, grabbed the one that wasn't smashed and slashed to bits by the battle between Brutus and John, took out one of the fist-sized berries, and examined it.  
  
"Damn!" she cursed, "Those dirty apes didn't purify them yet. And the nearest area of water is a day's travel from here. Judging from this gash, he won't even last a day."  
  
A tear fell from the echidna princess's eye. The blue echidna risked his life for her, and now, he was dying. No one had ever done so noble a deed for her since her mother Zara-Lyn passed away. She used her final bit of strength to kill a Buatra that had flown in and attempted to get at her daughter while she was a helpless infant.  
  
It then occured to the echidna princess. John used a creature during his first bout with Brutus. A creature that used water like a weapon! She looked all over John's being for the containment device John used for the creature. She found the Pokeball and opened it. Out came John's Cloyster, Avalanche.  
  
"Cloyster!" the Pokemon hissed, not trusting the female stranger near its master. It then closed its shell.  
  
"Wait! I need your help." Adonna-Lyn pleaded, "I need you to soak these berries. Otherwise, your master will not last for long."  
  
No reply.  
  
Infuriated beyond belief, she grabbed one of the halves of the shell and pulled with all her might. But, as it turned out, she would have had better luck opening a walnut, for the Cloyster had its shell clamped tight and would not yield.  
  
Adonna-Lyn continued to pull until her hands slipped and launched her back by atleast five feet. Seeing how hopeless the situation had become, she broke down into tears. "It's not fair. The stupid thing refuses to help its own master! What am I going to do now?" she cried.  
  
Avalanche, hearing Adonna-Lyn's crying and seeing its master in so much pain, opened its shell. It then looked at the bag of berries and fired a small jet of water to soak it. A small black stream poured from the bag and seeped into the ground. That was the poison in the berries.  
  
The Pokemon, satisfied that it had done its work, fired another small jet of water at its Pokeball and recalled itself.  
  
Looking up from her sobbing, Adonna-Lyn smiled and said, "The sympathy act. Gets em' every time."  
  
She quickly went for the bag, took out a berry, cut it open with a claw that came out of her left knuckle, and poured it into the wound. There was a slight fizzing, which signified that cleansing of the wound was taking place.  
  
"And now to seal it up." she thought. She placed her hand over the wound. A light green mist of energy traveled down from her head down to her arm, spread all over the wound, and closed it up.  
  
"I hope I wasn't too late." she prayed.   
  
The blue echidna's eyes twitched. He looked at her with his silvery-blue eyes. Adonna-Lyn withdrew for a moment. She couldn't explain why she did.  
  
John weakly got up for a moment, glanced over at the Arachna's dying body...and went completely crazy! He pulled out his blaster and fired it repeatedly at the creature's hide.  
  
"Take that, you eight-legged bastard!" John shouted as he fired again and again.  
  
"Enforcer, I already killed it! It's dead!" Adonna-Lyn cried over John's rambling and shots.  
  
The blue echidna ceased fire, turned to the echidna princess, pointed a finger at her and, without words, asked "You?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
He then directed a thumb back at Brutus's mutilated corpse and silent worded, "Killed him?"  
  
She nodded again.  
  
John, all this overloading his senses, fainted.  
  
"Oh, dear." Adon thought while shaking her head, "Now I'm going to have to carry him."  
  
She heard several loud grunts and shouts. Realizing that it might be an approaching Overlander hunting party, she quickly picked up John, slumped him over her right shoulder and carried him away from the site of the massacre.  
  
John awoke to the site of stars in the sky. His back was practically killing him for some reason. As he sat up, he noticed a roaring campfire in front of him. "Man! Where the heck am I?" he asked himself.   
  
He noticed that two of his "insta-tents" were set up. Adonna-Lyn came into the clearing, bearing an armload of sticks and twigs for the fire. She noticed that John was awake, dumped her armload onto the fire, then started to walk towards him while saying, "Good evening, Enforcer. Nice of you to wake up."  
  
John immediately got up and was about to say the command words for his armor to activate... when Adonna-Lyn came up and placed her left hand over his mouth. "Don't bother. I already know what you look like under the armor. So cut it out with the charade and tell me who you really are." she requested of him.  
  
"Why should I?" John said as he gripped her wrist and forced it off of his mouth.  
  
"Because I saved your life and I believe you owe me an explanation!" she replied forcefully, giving him an angry and defient look.  
  
They stood there, gazing into each other's eyes for atleast ten minutes, feeling the hot breath of each other's rage as they stood. Finally, John yielded. "Alright, alright! I'll explain myself!" John said, hoping to end the ridiculous stand-off between him and the princess.  
  
"Good." Adonna-Lyn said while sitting down on the log that she placed John upon as she set up their encampment.  
  
John sat down as well and released a slight breath. "My true name is John the Echidna. I am eighteen years old, and as well as bounty hunting, I've spent the most part of my life searching for my past. I have no rememberance of my parents or anything beyond the age of eight." John began to explain.  
  
Adon inched closer to him. "Maybe I can help." she suggested.  
  
"How?" he asked.   
  
"Well, perhaps I can delve into your mind and try to bring whatever pieces I can find back out." she offered.  
  
With a panicked look on his face, John backed away from her, saying, "No! I can't allow that! Adon, you don't know what's in here!"  
  
"Do you want my help or not?" she asked while balling up her fists and placing them at her hips.  
  
John, feeling like he had no other alternative, yielded and said,   
  
"Alright. I must warn you, princess: You're not going to like what you see once you're in."  
  
With that, Adonna-Lyn went up to John and placed her hands at his temples. She closed her eyes and "went in"...  
  
  
  
She opened her eyes and found her self in a place she could not identify. It was a dark, metallic place, strange vines with lights pulsing through them were scattered about the floor. On several screens around her, she saw people crying, pleading, bleeding,...and dying. She felt pain all over her being. It became very mind-numbing for her.   
  
Something moved in the darkness. Adonna-Lyn took up a defensive stance. There was no way something was going to take her off guard. Then, it came into the light. It resembled John's armored persona as The Enforcer, but it looked horribley demonic. Its teeth were shaped like those of a predatory animal, and its eyes were glowing a hellish red and yellow!  
  
"What are you doing here?!" it bellowed in rage.  
  
"Who are you?" Adonna-Lyn asked.  
  
"I am THE ENFORCER! NOW GET OUT!" the armored demon roared. It aimed its fingers at her and released bolts of electricity that severly harmed the echidna princess.   
  
Suddenly, another figure entered the fray. It was John. "Leave her alone! She's trying to help me, you metallic brute!" He shouted while creating a shield around Adonna-Lyn. She carefully got to her bare feet.   
  
"John, what am I looking for in here?" she asked.  
  
"Head for the terminal on the right. I'll cover for you." John shouted as he tackled the mechanical beast before her.  
  
"You weak-minded fool! She is not meant to be here at all!" the Enforcer snarled before punching John off of him.  
  
"Adon, hurry!" John called to her while punching a few buttons on his wrist and trapping the mechanical monster in a stasis field, "I don't know how long I can hold him off!"  
  
With that, Adonna-Lyn turned to the terminal and looked at the keyboard. There were strange symbols on the keys, completely alien to her. John immediately sensed that, found a disc on the floor and threw it to her, saying, "Here! Here's my Chandralese translation file. This might help."  
  
She placed the disk into the keyboard. In a strange transformation, like a drop of water hitting a puddle and causing a ripple, the keys were made into Chandralese letters and numbers.  
  
"Alright, let's see." she said while thinking hard of what to look for. She then decided to enter a query about John's life ten years ago. The computer brought up his training with a brown echidna named Athair, learning fighting moves and utiliizing his awesome powers.   
  
Adonna-Lyn laid her chin on here left hand in boredom. "Well, this is all very interesting, but it doesn't really tell me anyth...hello!" she started to say until part of the screen started to spark and frizzle a bit, showing something "behind" the visual sequences of John's training. As the more of the image began to show, it revealed a very young, blue-skinned echidna in a tube, surrounded by characters in monk-like hoods and electrical displays around the tube.  
  
She watched as the blue echidna's eyes began to glow until they where as bright as sunlight and then, he released a large amount of blue-shaded bolts of synaptic energy from every part of his being.  
  
"By Chandrala!" Adonna-Lyn muttered in complete awe.  
  
A metal dreadlock wrapped around her arm and dragged her away from the computer. She looked up to see the Enforcer glaring down at her.  
  
"You'll regret this, you little interloper!" he growled. He then raised his right, clawed foot and prepared to crush the echidna princess's head...  
  
"Adon! Adon! Please! Snap out of it!" John yelled to her while shaking her at her shoulders.  
  
She shook her head, looked at John, then held his body close to hers. John looked at her. Her face was nearly as pale as a sheet of paper, her eyes were wide with horror. "I warned you, Adonna-Lyn. Are you okay?" he asked of her.  
  
She held him tight. "It was so...awful in there. There was a metal demon that resembled you in your armor. I've...I've never been so terrified in my entire life." she whimpered, her tears falling upon John's chest.  
  
The blue echidna put his arms around her back and coaxed, "It's alright, Adonna-Lyn. It's okay. I'm here. And now, you're safe."  
  
"John...while I was in your mind, I felt...pain. Suffering. You're so tortured." she said while gazing into his eyes. As John looked into her eyes, he noticed that the stars in the sky made them sparkle, like light shining on amethyst crystals.  
  
"Your eyes look very lovely in this light." John complimented.   
  
"Thank you." Adonna-Lyn said while blushing a little. She then watched as something fell out of his left pocket. "What is that?" she asked.  
  
John picked the object, identified it, then explained, "A servant girl gave this to me. Said it might bring me good luck..." John started to explain.  
  
"My mother's necklace!" Adonna-Lyn happily cried, "Oh, you're wonderful!" With that, she tightly embraced John.   
  
John smiled a bit. The princess's embrace felt good. However, John took ahold of Adonna-Lyn's hands and had them removed from his being. She gave him a curious look and asked, "John, what's wrong?"  
  
"How do you know I'm a good guy?" John asked back, "For one whole year, I've sent many people to their doom, even innocent people. People with families. Believe me, Adonna-Lyn, I am not the kind of guy you...oh, who am I kidding?! Why would a princess like a piece of scum such as myself?"  
  
Adonna-Lyn picked up her mother's necklace, placed it around her neck, then went up to John and said, "John, I know from experience that deep down, you are not scum. Many other guys I've met would have cowardly run away and left me to become arachna chow. What you did today was very noble and hardly worth the lable of 'scum'."  
  
John thought carefully about the princess's words, then asked, "How come you've never fallen in love with any other guy on this world? There must have been someone that held a special place in your heart."  
  
"Falling in love on Chandral isn't as easy as coming up to a girl with flowers and a ring with a diamond on it." Adonna-Lyn explained while sitting down on the log again, "By tradition, we females must perform the Par-nuun-sa. It is what you'd call a courtship dance. I danced for many a hopeful suitor, only to find that they've fallen asleep or be asking to see me dance again. This one suitor and I came close to being a loving couple until I heard him mention something about marrying the richest girl on Chandral. I immediately broke off the engagement, knowing he only wanted me for the money that would follow upon my father's death."  
  
But as she went on, she failed to notice that John sat down right next to her, gazing at her lovingly. Eventually, she noticed, let out a slight amused breath, then asked, "You want me to perform the Par-nuun-sa, don't you?"  
  
John shook his head for moment, then said, "Not unless you want to. I mean, it is not in my rank to order you around."  
  
"Well, only a sample, and that's it. Okay?" she asked.  
  
John nodded.  
  
Adonna-Lyn ducked into her tent for a moment. "I'm just going to get changed for the dance. You don't happen to be a musician, do you?" she asked while poking her head out.   
  
"Not really, but I do have some recordings. I'll get it set up." John replied.  
  
With that, she went inside and prepared.  
  
John then activated Interface and set up a connection to the ShadowHunter. "Yes, sir? Heavy asked as he was displayed.  
  
"Heavy, I need some dance music and quick!" John ordered in a whisper.   
  
Heavy, looking as puzzled as a robot could manage, asked, "What kind, sir?"  
  
John looked at the tent the echidna princess was in at the moment and watched her silhouette. She was applying a veil over her mouth. "I don't know. Anything that sounds like something themed for desert-like environments or anything like that?" he asked hurriedly.  
  
"Well, I do have some music from a Kitonak flute band concert. Very sensual. Why? What is the situation?" Heavy questioned.  
  
"Let's just say Adonna-Lyn is giving me a sample of her dancing prowess." John said while shooting another glance. Adonna-Lyn was nearly fully dressed.  
  
"In that case, might I recommend your composition of 'Arabian Dusk'?" Heavy asked.  
  
"Fine, whatever! Just upload it to the speakers on Interface." John commanded.  
  
"Right away, sir." Heavy said as he began typing several keys.  
  
"I'm ready!" Adonna-Lyn called.  
  
John turned to face her. She was dressed in her dancing girl garb. John practically fell backwards.  
  
"Are you alright?!" she asked while walking over to him to help him up.  
  
John shook his head for a moment, then replied, "I'm sorry. It's just that your beauty overwhelmed me. It was a complete sensory overload. You're just so beautiful, so perfect... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get so...so..."  
  
"It's alright. Believe me, you wouldn't be the first person who's fallen head over heels for me just because I look good." she said, smiling at him.  
  
"It's more than that. I've noted that you have a rebellious, fiery, independent personality. And you have, in more than one occasion, shown better leadership than I could ever provide." he stated, "Adonna-Lyn, I think I'm...I'm..."  
  
"Shhhh." she said while putting one finger over his lips, "Save it for after the Par-nuun-sa."  
  
"Right." John said while setting up Interface, "What do I do?"  
  
"You just sit off to the side and watch, as tradition dictates." she answered.  
  
"Oh." John muttered, a look of disappointment on his face.  
  
Adonna-Lyn noticed that and asked, "What's wrong?"  
  
"Well...it just doesn't seem right. I mean, you're doing all the work, while I just sit on my derriere and watch you." he said.  
  
"Atleast you're honest about that. That's very kind of you to say. However, tradition is tradition." she said while shrugging, "So, shall I get started or should we just call it a night?"  
  
"No. Go ahead." John said as he pressed a button on his hand-held computer.  
  
  
  
She started the dance in a crouched position, her head down, her arms spread out to her left and right. As the music began, she slowly rose up, wavering her arms like the wind blowing at a window's curtains. She then raised her arms to the sides of her head, having them mingle with her hair and her dreadlocks. Then she had her hands slide down her body, having them end at her undulating hips.  
  
She watched and saw that John was watching intently. "Introduction aside, let's move to the main event." she thought.  
  
For the next three minutes, she completely improvised the dance. Every step, every head-high kick, every twirl, every acrobatic and sensual move was done with unbelievable grace and slowness, her dreadlocks accentuating her every move. She fully put her heart and soul into the dance.   
  
She sensed John's thoughts. "By God...I have never seen this kind of movement in my entire life." she heard him think.  
  
"You haven't seen anything yet." Adonna-Lyn thought with a confident and charming smile. She opened the palms of her hands and released sparkles of light that fluttered to the ground like leaves from a tree. She psychically created the image of the lights, and used this new and unexpected element throughout the remainder of her dance.  
  
As three minutes had passed, Adonna-Lyn went through the traditional finale. She danced over to John, performed a three-hundred-sixty-degree twirl, then finished with the traditional poise: standing on the tips of her toes, her head arched back, and her dreadlocks and arms spread out.  
  
She walked over to John, sat down next to him and asked, "So, what did you think?"  
  
No response.  
  
"John? What did you think?" she asked again.  
  
Still no response.  
  
"John, are you alright?" she asked him, a touch of worry in her tone.  
  
She lifted John's glasses and gasped. His eyes were distant, almost as if he were in a trance.  
  
"Oh no. I must have brainwashed him!" she thought.  
  
She tugged on John's front left dreadlock. John's eyes returned to normal. Suddenly, he turned to her, grabbed her by her arms, and started kissing her!  
  
She was absolutely stunned. She didn't know what to do. There was nothing that would have alerted her to what was happening now. She couldn't think of a way of forcing him off of her without hurting him, especially after what he had been through for the past day. And yet, it felt good in a weird way.  
  
"No. This is wrong!" she thought, "Even if he is my friend and he nearly got himself killed for my sake, he can't just do this to me!" With no other recourse, she had her claws come out of her own fists and jabbed John in the sides of his chest.  
  
John screamed in pain for a moment and clutched the points of injury. Adon recoiled for a moment, unable to face what she had done. She felt so guilty. She just injured a friend who had been so noble as to make the ultimate sacrifice to save her life.   
  
"Adonna-Lyn, what's happened?" he asked while putting his left hand on her shoulder.  
  
Adon felt John's wet fingers. Wet from his blood. Adonna-Lyn rose up from the log and moved away from him. She ran inside her tent and wept.  
  
John entered her tent. "Adon, what's gotten into you?" he asked, his tenor voice filled with concern for her.  
  
She looked at him. His dark-green tank top was soaked with his blood. And yet, no more blood was flowing from the points where she jabbed him. It was as if John healed himself instantly. "Adon? Please tell me what's wrong." he requested as he sat down with her.  
  
Tears filled Adonna-Lyn's eyes. "John, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to...*sob*...to *sob*...hurt you!" she cried in sorrow. She then wrapped her arms around him.  
  
"Hurt me? Princess, what's wrong?" he asked of her.  
  
She then explained to him everything that had happened after she completed the Par-nuun-sa.   
  
"I did what?!" John said in utter surprise, "I can't believe I...that is...I...I..."   
  
"Kissed a princess right on the lips." she finished.  
  
"I'm so sorry. I must not have been in my right mind at that moment. In fact, I don't know what the heck came over me." he said while putting his hand on his head.  
  
"Listen. Why don't we both get some sleep? We've just been through a terrible ordeal and maybe we'll feel better in the morning." she suggested hurriedly.   
  
"Um...right." he answered while leaving the tent. He poked his head in again and said, "I'm sorry about the kiss."  
  
"I'm sorry about the claws in your sides." she apologized.  
  
"You're forgiven." they said simultaneously. Realizing what they did, they nervously giggled a bit. John started to walk his tent.  
  
"Good night, my handsome guardian." she whispered as John left.  
  
John stopped for a moment, looked back at her tent, smiled, and whispered back, "Sleep well, my lovely princess."  
  
Adonna-Lyn pondered over her feelings for the echidna bounty hunter for a moment before she finally fell asleep.   
  
He was fairly handsome, attractive, and very noble, but there were things about him that puzzled her. For starters, he had nine dreadlocks, claws and spurs, and psychic powers, all characteristics of her species. She almost thought he was probabley a Chandralite Echidna, but then she remembered his tail, and dismissed that thought quickly.  
  
And loving him? What was this attraction to him? He certainly wasn't charming or friendly when she first met him. But now...she was seeing a completely different side of the being that was, a few days ago, threatening to drop her off the side of a cliff.  
  
"But why do I feel this way toward him?" she wondered, her head aching like hell was breaking loose in one nanosecond. Rather than causing her head more pain, she fell asleep.  
  
John sat down in his tent, his mind ablaze with ideas and emotions. There was certainly more to Adonna-Lyn than he was giving her credit for.   
  
She was very beautiful, powerful, and graceful. But John's true   
  
attraction to Adonna-Lyn was her personality. There was a fiery, independent air about her that set John's soul on fire. There were so many reasons for falling in love with Adonna-Lyn, but it seemed that her personality was what John loved the most.  
  
"No, no. I'm certainly not going to send her to Jabba the Hutt. A perverted slug like him does not deserve such a treasure as her." John thought to himself. He then decided to rest up. Tomorrow would hold a great deal of travel for him and the echidna princess...  
  
  
  
The next morning, John stretched out his arms, opened his mouth, then released a long, yet quiet, yawn. He put his left hand down to his side.  
  
However, he felt something that did not feel like the plastic floor of the insta-tent. It was very soft and had a silky texture to it. He looked and saw Adonna-Lyn, lying down and sleeping silently.  
  
"What the heck?!" he wondered.  
  
She blinked her eyes as she awoke. Her eyes went wide when she saw who was in the tent with her.  
  
"What's going on?!" she screamed in surprise as she rolled away from him, "What are you doing in my tent?!"  
  
"Adon! Watch out for that button!" he shouted.  
  
The echidna princess was too late in heeding John's warning. Her back came in contact with a grey button on the side and pressed the button down.  
  
The tent began to constrict and pressed both echidnas against each other.  
  
"What's happening?" Adon asked as best as she could, since her face was practically smashed against his.  
  
"It was a little cunning device I used in bounty hunting." John explained, "Often, it was to lure a bounty hunted in and have them press that very button."  
  
"A trap." she concluded while trying to move to a point where her face was out of John's, "Well, how do we get out of it?"  
  
"Well, normally, I would be on the OUTSIDE of the tent and I'd press a button on top of the insta-tent to deactivate the trap." John said.  
  
"Great! So, we're stuck like this!" she said, "What about your   
  
lightsaber?"   
  
"Not in here. I might wind up spearing you with it." he answered.  
  
Adonna-Lyn grinned confidently and said, "I've got an idea." With that, she psychically projected her vision to the outside of the trap and noticed a heavy branch that was on the verge of breaking off. She focused her telekinetic power on the branch and tried to bring the branch down. The branch gave way a little, but it did not completely break off.  
  
John noticed sweat pouring down her face as she breathed heavily and asked, "What's wrong?"  
  
"I'm not strong enough." she panted, "I just don't have the strength."  
  
"What do you mean? From what I sensed of you, you have enough power to level a forest!" he told her.  
  
She looked at him and said, "What good is power when you can't control it? Even at my age, I still lack the control I need to maintain the focus of my powers."  
  
"Alright. Then let me channel my power through you and help you control yours." John offered.  
  
Adonna-Lyn looked away for a moment.  
  
"Adon, this is kind of a lousy time to be stubborn or to have second thoughts. If we don't hurry, we're going to wind up getting crushed like eggs." John urged.  
  
"Please don't talk about eggs." Adon said back as she grabbed his hands.  
  
John realized his spoken blunder and said, "Right. Echidnas lay eggs. My bad." Both echidna's were so close together, John could feel Adonna-Lyn's soft-as-silk skin being pressed against his own being.   
  
John channeled his powers through Adonna-Lyn and caused the branch to fall on the button on top of the tent. Instantly, the tent expanded to its original size, releasing both echidnas.  
  
"I'll certainly have to remember this whenever I get into another of your tents." Adonnna-Lyn laughed as she got up and stretched herself out a bit, "I'm going to get some breakfast ready."  
  
"Wait! How did you get into my tent?" John asked.  
  
Adonna-Lyn looked back at him and answered, "I don't know why, but...I felt like I had to be near you."   
  
"Oh." John said.  
  
With that, she left the tent.  
  
"Wow!" John thought, "That's the closest I've ever been to her!"  
  
Suddenly, there was a loud thud! The next sounds John heard was a heavy hissing accompanied by Adonna-Lyn grunting and shouting for help. Knowing that something terrible was occuring, he ran outside.  
  
Outside was a huge, serpent-like creature. It had long, crocodile-like jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth, a cobra-hood supported by several boney spikes, fire-red eyes (almost like he was looking into the eyes of the Devil himself), a flicking tongue with three feelers at the end, and a scorpian-like stinger at the end of its tail.   
  
And there, struggling to free herself from its seven-feet-tall coils was Adonna-Lyn!  
  
At one point, her very being fell limp. The snake-like beast then arched its head over her and tried to probe her with its tongue.  
  
Adon then opened her eyes, then grabbed its tongue and tried to yank it right out of the beast's mouth. However, it was so slippery that Adonna-Lyn lost her grip. Now, the beast was enraged! It then began to aim the stinger it had at the echidna princess.  
  
John interceded. He got suited up into his armor, pulled out his   
  
lightsaber and cut off the beast's stinger. As the beast roared and thrashed about in pain, John helped Adonna-Lyn out of the beasts coils.  
  
"What took you so long?" she asked.  
  
"What? No 'You're my hero' or even a 'thank you' kiss?" John asked as he deactivated his helmet.  
  
"Don't press your luck." she said with a cocky smile.  
  
Then, her eyes went wide. She shouted, "John, look out!"   
  
The snake-like beast lunged and caught John in its mouth. Adonna-Lyn rolled to the side just as the creature caught the armored echidna. It then lifted its head high into the air, to aid it in swallowing John's chopped up remains.  
  
John, however, was able to force the creature's jaws open wide enough for him to get out. He climbed on top of the creature's head and put his unarmored hand to the spot where he sensed the beast's brain was. The creature, its eyes turned from a hellish red to a soothing blue, lowered its head to the point where its chin touched the ground.  
  
Adonna-Lyn was stunned.  
  
"All aboard." John said while holding his hand out to her.  
  
She just stood there, awestruck.  
  
"Don't worry. It's under my control now." John reassured her.  
  
Finally, the echidna princess stepped forward. John helped her up. "I-I-I can't believe it! You tamed a Carnarth!" she said.  
  
"Is that what this thing's called?" John asked, "Who would give it such an idiotic name?"  
  
"My father first gave it its name." she told him sharply.  
  
"Oh. I'm sorry." John said as he then steered the creature towards the Supreme Royal Palace.  
  
And so, both echidnas were on their way. As they rode the collosal Carnarth, John told her about what was going on back on Mobius. The Great War, Robotnik's take-over, and the resistance against the foul tyrant.  
  
"And that's why I left." John finished.  
  
"Really? Wow." Adonna-Lyn said, sounding a bit bored.  
  
John, not wanting to bore her, then asked, "So, um, about last night..."  
  
A few of Adonna-Lyn's dreadlocks perked up as she asked, "Yes?"  
  
John gulped for a moment. He didn't know exactly how he was going to word what he wanted to say without doing something insulting, too forward, or embarassing. "Adon, I...I..." John said as he turned to her.  
  
"Yes?" Adonna-Lyn asked as she stood up, a hopeful look on her face.  
  
"Adonna-Lyn, I...damn it! Why can't I say it?!" John cursed.  
  
She looked at him with a knowing look and, as they drew closer to each other, suggested, "You mean, like you...you.."  
  
Suddenly, a green beam of light soared at the Carnarth and caused to it to collapse, launching both echidnas off of its head. Adon got up after rolling a couple of times to break her fall and looked around. John was lying face down. His nose was bleeding from the impact with his face hitting the ground but he was conscious. She walked towards him to see if he was alright.   
  
But before she reached him, something shot out of the undergrowth and grabbed Adonna-Lyn by her torso, forcing her hands to her sides. It was a hand. A large, metal hand! It then pulled her into the jungle-like surroundings, away from John.  
  
Fortunately, John saw what happened before she vanished into the greenery. He ran a quick replay of what the sensors of his armor had sensed before he and the echidna princess were launched off.  
  
"It was a stun blast, the same kind...Oh, dear lord, no!" John realized in horror. He then tore off into the jungle in hot pursuit, his armor activating as he ran. He came to a clearing and became enraged by what he saw.  
  
"ROBOTS!" John snarled, "Robotnik's robots! Even here, his evil spreads!"  
  
He watched as Adonna-Lyn was struggling madly as to free herself from the hand of a particually large robot. It was green in color, cylindrical in shape. It had ruby red optic sensors, large three-fingered hands, and a few odd markings on the rear of its "head". Accompanying it was a pair of Swatbots, but unlike any other of Robotnik's silicon-brained soldiers he had seen, the Swatbots were taller and had a navy-blue colored casing.  
  
"Species analysis: Chandralite Echidna. Gender: Female." one of the robots droned to the other, "Lord Robotnik will be pleased with this catch."  
  
"Indeed. Zero unit B28, prepare to deliver this specimen to Lord   
  
Robotnik." the other Swatbot droned.  
  
"Confirmed." the Zero unit droned in a deep voice while performing a salute, "All hail Lord Robotnik."   
  
With that, the Zero unit opened the top of its head, dumped Adon in, and closed the lid.  
  
"NOOOOOOO!" John roared as he exploded out of the bushes. The two Swatbots were completely caught off guard. John pulled out his lightsaber and hacked the two robots to bits  
  
The Zero unit, however, was prepared to deal with John. It fired its hands out to grab him. One hand missed, the other grabbed his legs. Then, the robot delivered a powerful shock through the cable-like arms and into the hand. But as John thrashed about the ground, the electricity searing through the armor and coursing over his body, he heard Adonna-Lyn shouting, "John, get me out of here! I...can't...breath!"  
  
John, his rage burning like a furnace under his skin, placed the hands of his armor on the robot's hands and forced it off of him. John did a backward flip on to his feet and charged at the Zero unit with his lightsaber blazing. He jumped on to the robot's head and cut the flipping top off. He then used his dreadlocks to help Adonna-Lyn out of the robot's head case and lower her down to the ground.   
  
The Zero unit tried to recapture her, only to have its cable-arm cut off when John sliced through it with a blade saw from one of the dreadlocks of his armor.  
  
"Your capturing days are over, you piece of shit!" John snarled as he slashed at the Zero unit with his lightsaber. Soon, the robot was reduced to scrap. Yet, John kept attacking it.  
  
"John, I think it's dead...deactivated...whatever." Adonna-Lyn tried to assure him. John, however, took no heed. This was very personal to him.   
  
He finally pulled out his blaster, fired several times into the scrap pile, and shouted, "And you can take THAT back to your master!"  
  
"John, let's go. Karlay is not too far from here. We can make it there by nightfall." Adonna-Lyn said while tugging on his right arm.  
  
"Alright. I'm done." John said as he turned and walked away from the carnage he had wrought.  
  
As they were walking towards Karlay, Adonna-Lyn asked, "John, were those things...?"  
  
"Yes, they were." John interupted, a severe frown forming on his face.  
  
"John, will there be more of them?" she asked.  
  
When the thought of it occured to the blue echidna, he took out Interface and made a communication link to the ShadowHunter. "Heavy, come in!" John commanded.  
  
"Who's Heavy?" she asked.  
  
"He's my partner. A reformed robot." John explained.  
  
"Yes, sir?" Heavy replied.  
  
John took in a deep breath and explained, "Heavy, the princess and I ran afoul of some robots, Mobian origin. I need you to scour the planet and make sure there's no more of them."  
  
"As you wish, sir. Heavy, out." the Mechanix drone replied.  
  
"Come on. Let's get into town before we run into anything else." John said as he seized the echidna princess's hand.  
  
"John, deactivate your armor for a moment." Adonna-Lyn requested.  
  
When John obeyed, he was about to ask why...until Adonna-Lyn kissed him on the cheek. "That's for coming after me when those robots nabbed me." she said.  
  
"Well...all in the line of duty, your Highness." John replied while blushing a bit.  
  
Once they had arrived in Karlay, it was, as the echidna princess   
  
predicted, nightfall. They came across the local tavern. John suggested that they rested there to regain their strength and plan a strategy for dealing with Blue Fang. Adonna-Lyn, however, objected, sensing the prescense of a group of yet another detestable life form on Chandral: the Hedgehogs!  
  
Adonna-Lyn went on to explain that the quill-backed rodents of her world were chiefly delinquints and trouble-makers, ones that were able to shoot spikes from any point on their wretched bodies. The female members of their species were often servants for the rich and the royal, and rarely had anything to do with their male counterparts.  
  
John suggested that they try to sneak in. The blue echidna then activated a cloaking device on his armor. "If these punks start something with you, I'll be there to stop them if they try." John reassured.   
  
Adonna-Lyn let out a slight breath of frustration, then went into the tavern.  
  
As fate would unfortunately have it, Adonna-Lyn was spotted by a crude group of hedgehogs known as the Chand Devils, which hooted, whistled, and made all sorts of perverted and rude remarks. They were a brutish gang, in colors ranging from black and various shades of grey and brown. Each member of the gang was dressed in a form of leather clothing, ranging from vests to hats to tight pants. From them came a nose-torturing stench of alcohol, blood, sweat, and severe body odor. John noted that they also had more back quills in comparison to the Mobian variety of hedgehogs  
  
Their leader was a dark grey hedgehog with a pair of shades, a leather jacket, leather boots, and a white T-shirt with the red-stained words, "Hedgehogs make better lovers". His name was Zorn.  
  
Zorn's liutenant was a rather deranged looker to say the least. His eyes were blood shot, but formed a spiral pattern towards the center of his eyes. What added to his bizarre facial appearance was that he wore a dark eyepatch over his left eye but had a scar over his right eye. He wore a ripped up straight jacket (where he got one is a mystery), shoes with his clawed feet sticking out, and a bandolier of knives, scissors, and other cutting tools. He went by the name of Scissor.  
  
Zorn's bodyguards were two massive, muscular, and dim-witted hedgehogs named Zik and Rek. Zik, besides his usual leather clothing, wore three rings in his left ear. His bother Rek, on the other hand, wore the same clothes except for that he wore four rings in his right ear. Both had beady little eyes, broad chins, and a definite look of maliciousness about them.   
  
There were four other hedgehogs with them, but neither John or Adonna-Lyn bothered to look at them or bother with telepathically sensing their names.  
  
Adonna-Lyn went up to the tavern keeper and requested a room. The tavern's owner, a crocodile with a few teeth missing, turned and started to look for an available room. Zorn licked his hand, brushed his quills back and slowly sauntered towards the echinda princess. "Hey, babe. What's a pretty little thing like you doing in a crap-hole like this?" he asked while surveying Adonna-Lyn up and down.  
  
Knowing what this creep what was up to, she casually went over to a nearby booth. Unfortunately, she found that Zorn followed her and was in the booth with her. "Playing hard to get, huh? I like that in a girl." the hedgehog gang leader sneered as he ran his hand through the echidna princess's hair.  
  
Not willing to tolerate such cheauvenistic behavior, she slapped his hand away...with enough force to send his hand crashing through the wall!  
  
"OOOOOOW!" Zorn yelled as he clutched his hand, "Now THAT I don't like in a girl! Zik! Rek! Grab her!"  
  
In an instant, Zorn's two bodyguards were upon her. They grabbed her by her arms and pulled out of the booth. Despite the echidna princess's struggles, she was unable to break free from their grip.  
  
"Scissors, if you would do the honors..." Zorn said as he removed his leather jacket.  
  
"Sure thing, boss. One top, coming off! AAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" Scissor cackled maniacally as he pulled out a pair of...well, scissors.  
  
As Zorn finally got his shirt off, he turned to Adonna-Lyn and suggested, "I'd hold still if I were you. Scissor tends to 'miss' now and then."  
  
But as the psychoctic-looking hedgehog got close enough, some unseen force wrapped around his throat and pulled him into the rafters. The other hedgehogs tried to see their comrade but were unable to see him in the darkness of the area near the roof. All they heard were his strangled grunts, then a shriek of terror, followed by a beastial growl. Then they heard a wet snap of bones!  
  
Suddenly, Scissor's body fell on top of Zorn. The hedgehog gang leader scrambled to throw his lieutenant's body off of him. He saw that Scissor's face had turn pale with horror, his eyes bugged out, and his neck looking like a shrunken prune. His throat was completely crushed!  
  
Zorn looked up and saw what he thought was the silhouette of his   
  
lieutenant's killer. "Forget the girl, you collective heads of knuckle! Shoot that..th-th-that thing down!" he ordered.   
  
The other Hedgehogs aimed their hands upward, their fingers pointed up. Then, at a rapid pace, small but sharp spikes began to fly through the air and at their target. Many of the spikes missed and wound up hitting the wooden beam below the Enforcer's feet. The spikes began to shred the beam and caused him to fall to the ground. That damaged the cloaking device John had in his armor and revealed himself to the quill-backed delinquints.   
  
"Get him!" Zorn ordered.  
  
The hedgehog gang members converged upon John and began to pummel the echidna bounty hunter.   
  
Adonna-Lyn knew that seven-to-one were not fair odds. So, she joined in and sided with John.   
  
But as the odds dwindled to three-to-two, leaving Zorn, Zik, and Rek to face the two echidnas, John took on the bodyguards while Adonna-Lyn faced off to the hedgehog that nearly raped her. John deactivated the armor around his hands and slammed his wrists into the necks of the hedgehogs he was facing and injected his paralyzing venom.  
  
"Hold it right there, freak job!" Zorn snarled as he held Adonna-Lyn by her arms which he twisted behind her during their fight, "Make one wrong move, and she's going to wind up as a royal pin-cushion!"  
  
"Another hostage situation! I hate these!" John thought. He had to think quickly. He had already seen what the hedgehogs' quills were capable of doing and he certainly did not want the same to happen to Adonna-Lyn. But then, he received other thoughts. "To hell with her! Once you get the dagger and a girl to take to Jabba the Hutt, none of this will matter!" a cruel-sounding voice proclaimed at the back of his head.  
  
"No!" John thoughtfully resolved, "SHE matters to me! And it's not for the money this time. She saved my life. I owe her that much." He then telekinetically caused a drinking glass to soar at the back of Zorn's legs. It missed, however, and shattered upon impact with the ground.  
  
"What the heck?!" the hedgehog cried in consternation as he turned around to see the disturbance.  
  
That was the diversion Adonna-Lyn needed. With his focus off of her, she got her hands free, slugged the creep across the face, and then knee-kicked him between his legs! Zorn, his eyes wide with pain, groaned and fell to his knees. John looked away, as such a thing was not a pleasant sight for a guy to see.  
  
"Now you know why I am considered a ROYAL PAIN to be around." she said as she kicked him and sent the quill-backed fool flying out of the door.  
  
The other hedgehogs gazed at Adonna-Lyn for a moment, then scrambled for the door as the echidna princess fired a few small psychic bursts at their heels. She turned to John and asked, "Are you going to just stand there or are you going to get rid of those two bozos?"  
  
John looked. Zik and Rek's arms and legs were twitching uncontrollabley. "An allergic reaction to my venom, no doubt." he thought. He grabbed them by the nape of their necks and tossed them out.  
  
Adonna-Lyn, seeing that victory was her and her partner's, let out a triumphant cry, followed by a long and happy howl. John joined in, releasing his own triumphant shout...  
  
The next night, they ran towards the Supreme Royal Palace. Within their minds blazed their plan of attack and the excitment they felt for their possible success. They approached the bushes near the palace walls and kneeled down to see what would possibley be in their way.  
  
"Hmm...several guards, all rhinos and males. They shouldn't be any match for us." John observed.  
  
Adonna-Lyn looked at him, and said, "Um...John?"  
  
John looked over to her and asked, "Yes? What do you need to say?"  
  
"John, I appreciate what you've done for me, but from here on in, this is something I must do alone." Adonna-Lyn said as she got up, tried to walk away from him and toward the palace.  
  
"Oh no, you don't!" John said as he grabbed her arm, "I know we started things off on the wrong foot, and we were pretty much at each other's throats, but as far as I'm concerned, we have to defeat Blue Fang together!"  
  
"Are you crazy?! She could kill you!" Adonna-Lyn protested.  
  
John rubbed his throat where Blue Fang strangled him with her dark powers and said, "Yeah, I'm aware of that. But what if Blue Fang pulls another bubble-trap thing on you again? Who's going to help you if you go alone?"  
  
Adonna-Lyn thought about that for a moment, then said, "Alright. I guess you can come along and help me defeat her. But then, I guess I'll have to add more money to the reward for your services."  
  
John shook his head and said, "This time, fair Adonna-Lyn, I'm not in this for the money. I'm in it...for you. You've done more for me than I could ever repay or deserve. I...I love you, Adonna-Lyn. I love you with all my heart and soul, and I shall fight by your side to the bitter end."  
  
The echidna princess was speechless. He finally said the words she was hoping to hear from him since she had performed the Par-nuun-sa for him. She smiled at him and said, "Alright then. We'll do this together. Now, how to get past the guards..."  
  
John, however, looked at her with a sneaky grin. Adonna-Lyn saw that, realized what John had in mind, then said, "Oh, no! I know what you're thinking, and I'm certainly not going to do that!"  
  
"Have any better ideas of how we're going to get into the palace?" John asked while gesturing to the guards, "If we don't incapacitate them, Blue Fang will have them swarming over us at her command, allowing her a chance to take us by surprise with one of her spells. Our best chance is for me to take out the guards while you create a diversion."  
  
"Oh....if I must." the echidna princess said while rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh of grief while taking her backpack off and bringing out her specialized disguise.  
  
A moment later, one of the guards signaled for his companions to join him. As they gathered he pointed to a disturbance in the bushes off to the front of the palace walls. Adonna-Lyn then emerged from the surrounding vegetation, gracefully dancing before the eyes of the watching rhinos. They whistled and panted like raving beasts.   
  
While she found their behavior contemptable of their position and was greatly tempted to vaporize them with a well-aimed psychic blast, she thought better of such a hasty decision and continued her diversion. At one point, she began to untuck the long purple veil that was tucked into different parts of her clothing and used it in the rest of her performance.  
  
"Your Highness, get ready to cover your nose and mouth." John mentally commanded of her.  
  
"Why?" she asked him telepathically.  
  
"You'll see." John replied.  
  
Suddenly, there was a slight boom. The guards looked behind themselves and saw a small object emitting a light-green gas upon on them. They coughed, they hacked...and then they fell to the floor of the area on top of the massive front doors. All were out cold.  
  
"What was that?" she asked of John as he came to her side.  
  
"Stun gas. Enough to stun a rancor or a group as large as theirs." John explained, "It won't kill them. It will just make them fall asleep for about...well, until dawn."  
  
"Then we must move quickly." Adonna-Lyn stated as they entered the palace.  
  
The inner part of the palace was a nightmare. It resembled the result of a volcanic eruption. The floor, the walls and the celing was made up of black, circle-like tiles with red lines between each tile. It was fortunate that the floor plan remained the same and familiar to Adonna-Lyn or otherwhise she and the echidna bounty hunter would have been hopelessly lost within the confines of the palace.  
  
The echidna duo continued their way to the throne room where Blue Fang no-doubtedly was. The echidna princess, however, stopped at a room. The servant girls' quarters. She looked in and whispered, "Hey! Wake up!"  
  
Tarana the vixen opened her eyes, saw Adonna-Lyn through the articulate designs of the doorway, and went over to the door. "Adonna-Lyn! I can't believe you're here!" she whispered back.   
  
"I'm glad you're alright, Tarana." Adonna-Lyn said as she looked past the servant girl, "Where are the others?"   
  
"Sadly, your Highness, Blue Fang has snuffed out the spark of life in them one-by-one. Only poor Neela and I remain now." Tarana answered, "I'm worried that I might be next."  
  
"Where is Neela?" Adonna-Lyn questioned.  
  
"In the throne room, with the demon." Tarana answered meekly, "Please don't let me die, your Highness!"  
  
"I won't. Not while I still live." Adonna-Lyn vowed.  
  
"Watch out for Shandray! She's been blinded by Blue Fang into serving her." Tarana warned.  
  
"I'll deal with her myself." John snarled as he activated his cloaking device, jumped, flipped and began to crawl along the celing.  
  
Shandray, as Tarana had warned, was at her post near the doors to the throne room. She was pacing back and forth, determined to guard the Supreme Empress. Then, she began to smell something. A familiar scent.  
  
She immediately began to brandish her weapon while growling, "This won't do you any good. I can smell your stink and hear your heart beat from a mile away. Surrender now, and maybe Supreme Empress Blue Fang will be lenient in giving you a quick and painless death."  
  
The only thing that answered her challenge was a slight breeze that grazed her face like a dancer's veil.   
  
Suddenly, something hoisted her into the air by her waist! Shandray thrashed about madly to hopefully score some damage upon her unseen attacker. But then, her weapon was snatched from her hands and held aloft by the unseen force that was attacking her. The next thing she knew, she was being bound by her wrists and ankles, and a cloth was being stuffed into her mouth. She then felt herself being dropped to the floor and being dragged in the direction of the servant girls' quarters.  
  
"John, did you harm her at all?" Adonna-Lyn asked as John decloaked and deactivated his armor.  
  
"She is merely incapacitated, Adon. I did not harm her, okay?" John reassured her.  
  
"Alright." Adonna-Lyn said while shooting John a suspicious look, "So, what's our plan for attack upon Blue Fang?"  
  
"I felt that if we take her by surprise, she won't be able to concentrate enough to focus any spells on us. Then, I'll try to get the dagger away from her and give it to you to remove her powers." John planned.  
  
"And how do we take her by surprise?" Adonna-Lyn asked.  
  
"I was thinking along the lines of fighting fire with fire, or should I say, magic with magic." John said with a sneaky grin. He then pressed a few buttons on his armor and stepped out of it as it transformed into a tall, rectangular box.   
  
Adonna-Lyn looked on, and asked, "Ho-kay. What is it?"  
  
"Well, the deal is, you hide in there until I give three slight raps upon the box. When that happens, I need you to shake the box up like crazy. And when I open the doors, you leap out." John suggested as he began to go into his backpack and pull out a fancy suit that made him look like a professional magician.  
  
"Well, alright." Adonna-Lyn said as she opened up one door of the box, "Just promise not to cut me in half."  
  
John activated Interface and called up Heavy. "Ah, sir. It is so good to see you again. How may I help you?" Heavy said a bit cheerfully.  
  
"Well, I need a Pokemon exchange. I need Pokemon that can entrap or stun someone." John said.  
  
"Ah, then I think I know the very Pokemon you need. Making   
  
transfer...NOW!" Heavy said as he pressed a few buttons. At one point, he stared wide-eyed at the screen and shuddered, "Um...sir...the sparkster made it with the exchange."  
  
"Oh, great." John muttered, knowing what Pokemon Heavy was talking about, "Well, I guess it will have to do. Hope to see you later, Heavy."  
  
"You too, sir. Heavy, over and out." the Mechanix drone replied before switching off the communication.  
  
John then turned to Shandray, paced around her like a vulture trying to find the tenderest part of its meal, and whispered, "Now, what to do with you? A loose cannon such as yourself could warn Blue Fang of what is in store for her. However, should I just go in alone without you announcing me,...that would create some unwanted suspicion. So, you're going to help me and the heir of your true ruler or it will be curtains for everyone. Got that?"  
  
Shandray finally spit out the cloth that was crammed into her mouth and growled, "Oh, yeah? And why should I?"  
  
"Because I'm going to say please!" John whispered while hoisting the black cat into the air with his telekinetic powers.  
  
Shandray, realizing how high up she was, chuckled a bit and asked, "Well...why didn't you say so?"  
  
Fortunately, Shandray adopted a more cooperative attitude and lead the echidna "magician" into the throne room. Blue Fang was in the middle of having her nails trimmed by Neela, whose bushy tail was shaking about nervously in worry of what the vixen enchantress would do to her should she make a mistake. "*AHEM!* Your Majesty?" Shandray addressed.  
  
Blue Fang's eyes began to glow slightly as she narrowed them and snapped, "I thought I told you I wanted no more interruptions for the night. If it's one of those groveling villagers from Karlay, send them away."  
  
"Actually, it is a magician, your Grace. He wishes to perform a few magic tricks for you in reverence to your exhalted position." Shandray announced.  
  
"A magician?" Blue Fang asked inquisitively. Normally, she despised magicians because she knew they were frauds and fakes compared to her powers. Nonetheless, she didn't have a laugh in quite a while since she watched the skunk servant girl suffer the same fate as the ferret servant girl from last week: sinking into quicksand!   
  
"Then again, should this magician fail to impress me, I shall have the pleasure in watching his head cut off by the guards." she thought to herself. She gestured to the Captain of the Guards to send the magician in.  
  
The magician was dressed in very fancy looking clothes, unlike any Blue Fang had seen. He had blue skin, silvery-blue eyes, and blue hair tied into a braid behind his head.  
  
"Greetings, oh Affluent one." the magician said in a strange accent while bowing before the cruel enchantress, "I am Korsainth, a master magician, renowned throughout the galaxy. I had heard of you and wished to perform for your approval."  
  
"Very well. Get on with it." Blue Fang commanded, "Neela, you may stop trimming and watch this."  
  
Neela did so. She looked at Korsainth carefully and wondered, "Where have I seen those eyes before?"  
  
Korsainth began the act with a levitation trick, bringing in a tall box made of a dark, but shiny metal. Surprisingly, he did so without breaking out in a sweat. Blue Fang merely watched on with a slight interest, while Neela clapped and applauded the first trick.  
  
"And now, from these small orbs," Korsainth proclaimed while pulling out a red-and-white ball with a white button, "I shall release and command beasts and animals of varying sizes and powers. Steelix, GO!"  
  
Out of the ball popped out a massive creature, whose body was comprized of pure steel, had a head that resembled a baleen whale and a long, serpant-like body. It bellowed out a loud roar that shook the roof of the palace and caused a haunting silence outside of the palace. Neela scampered to avoid being flattened by such a behemoth.  
  
Korsainth, who was truly John in disguise, recalled the creature and pulled out another of his Pokeballs. "Ariados, GO!" he commanded  
  
Emerging from the Pokeball was a spider-like animal that came up to John's thigh in height. Its colors ranged from red to yellow to purple. To demonstrate its abilities, it wove a silken statue of Blue Fang with its webs. That truly impressed Blue Fang.   
  
When John brought out the next creature, it turned out to be the   
  
"sparkster" Heavy was referring to: a Pikachu! This one had a very foul temper ever since John caught it and it would shock John whenever it had the chance.  
  
"How adorable!" Neela cried as she ran up and picked up the litte electric rodent, "Aren't you just the cutest little thing?"  
  
John was about to warn Neela that the Pikachu would release a very powerful electric shock if picked up...until he heard the little "Mouse" Pokemon give out a squeek of contentment as the squirrel servant girl cuddled it.  
  
"Did I just miss something?" he wondered, "Is it me, or did that little rat lose the attitude when it met Neela?" But then, he got an idea. He went up to Neela and tried to get her attention.  
  
She turned to him, realized she was interrupting the performance, then apologized, "Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."  
  
"It's alright, my dear. If you like the little guy that much, he's all yours." Korsainth laughed while lightly patting the Pikachu on the head.   
  
"Really? Oh, thank you!" she said while giving the magician a kiss and returning.  
  
"Whoa! Anymore of that, and I'll seriously consider STAYING on Chandral." John thought to himself.  
  
John then released a Mr. Mime which performed some acrobatic stunts, an Abra which...just slept, and a Fearrow that flew so fast that the only time it was seen was when it perched on John's hat.  
  
After recalling the Pokemon (with the exception of the Pikachu that Neela was petting), John announced that he was about to perform a special trick. He needed a volunteer for the trick. He pointed at Neela and said, "You, my dear, are the brave volunteer for this trick."  
  
The Pikachu let out a slight sound of worriedness as Neela was helped to her slipper-covered feet and was being led to the massive box John had telekinetically brought into the room. "Relax, little guy. I'll bring her back." he telepathically reassured it.  
  
Neela was then placed inside of the metal box. John caused a black stick with a white tip to slide out of his long sleeve. "And now, I shall make the lucky volunteer...vanish!" John proclaimed as he tossed down a smoke orb. As the cloud of smoke fumed out, Blue looked and saw that the box was empty! She was greatly impressed.  
  
The Pikachu, on the other hand, was not. It was shocked to see that the very pretty girl that was cuddling him had disappeared. So, to take out its rage, it unleashed a powerful Thunderbolt upon the magician!  
  
John reeled in pain from the Thunderbolt, much to Blue Fang's amusement. She laughed until she fell backwards from her cushioned throne.   
  
John, despite the continuing electrical attack, threw down another smoke orb and brought Neela back, much to the Pikachu's delight. It leaped up and into Neela's arms.  
  
"I wasn't gone that long, little one." Neela said as she began stroking its back, "Did you miss me that much?"  
  
The Pikachu nodded its head.  
  
"Alright, Neela, you've had your fun. You are dismissed." Blue Fang ordered.  
  
"As you wish, your Majesty." Neela said with a bow. She then left the throne room with the Pikachu riding on her shoulder.  
  
"Well, Korsainth, I'm quite impressed with your..." Blue Fang started to say.  
  
John, however, interrupted, "Just a moment, your Majesty. I have but one more trick to perform." With that, he lightly tapped the box. It then began to shudder and shake about the throne room.  
  
Blue Fang watched on in awe and asked, "What's going on?"  
  
"Ah, my box is detecting the prescence of a spirit." John said. The box then hit him in the leg.  
  
"OW! A vengeful spirit from the feel of it." John replied as he rubbed his knee. He then slid a magician's wand from his sleeve into his hand.   
  
"For my final trick, I shall make the spirit materialize here in this box." John announced. With that, he waved his arms about while chanting some mystic-sounding words. The door into the box opened...and out leaped Adonna-Lyn!  
  
"WHAAAAAAAT?!" Blue Fang shrieked as she got to her feet.  
  
"Surprised, aren't you? I knew you would be." the echidna princess said before slugging the vixen enchantress across the face.  
  
Blue Fang reeled from the punch, then growled, "But if you're here, then where is that bounty hunter?"  
  
With that, "Korsainth" ducked into the metal box, which transformed into John's suit of armor. "It's all done with smoke and mirrors." John slyly commented.  
  
"Well, THIS isn't!" Blue Fang snapped as she launched a fireball at John. The fireball, however, harmlessly fizzled upon impact with the chestplate of the Ditanium-Alloy suit.  
  
"Is that all you've got?" John yawned in boredom.  
  
Blue Fang became so enraged that she conjured another fireball. This time, she launched it at Adonna-Lyn. The echidna princess did her best to outrun and dodge it, but it pursued her into a corner, where it formed a fiery cage around her. One whose bars were slowly inching themselves closer to burning Adonna-Lyn severely.  
  
Knowing that the fire-cage would harmlessly fizzle out without Blue Fang controlling it, John rammed Blue Fang and knocked her to the floor. Blue Fang viciously turned on John, her nails extending into claws as she tried to stab John. However, upon impact with the armor, Blue Fang's claws broke in half.  
  
"You heartless jerk! You broke my nails!" she shouted at John while holding up her fingers at John.  
  
"Yeah, it's a real bitch, isn't it? But there's going to be more to be broken than your stupid nails once I'm through with you!" he snarled as he approached her.  
  
"Don't you mean through with yourself?" Blue Fang grinned as her skin began to crawl and change shape until she took on the physical appearance of John's armor.  
  
"Very well. Let us test our metal." John joked as he extended his claws and attempted to tackle the vixen enchantress.  
  
As the fire cage fizzled out, Adonna-Lyn looked and became confused to see two armored echidnas fighting each other. She knew instinctively that one of the two was Blue Fang transformed, but with the both echidnas fighting in blur of each other, it was very difficult to tell which one was real and which one was fake. Knowing she would have to hit one of them to discover the fake, she began to summon her powers and prepare a psychic blast.  
  
When both of the fighters realized Adonna-Lyn was aiming a psychic blast at them, they immediately stopped fighting. "Will the real Enforcer please step forward?" she asked.  
  
Both of them stepped forward.   
  
"Damn!" she cursed mentally, "Blue Fang knows what I'm up to."  
  
"Adonna-Lyn, you have to hit one of us. It's the only way to be sure. Don't worry; my armor can take it." one of the armored echidnas shouted to her.  
  
Immediately, Adonna-Lyn fired on the one that did not speak up.   
  
"Adon, NO!" the echidna shouted until he was hit by the blast and sent crashing into a piller, causing it to collapse and bury him.  
  
Adonna-Lyn gasped as she realized that he hit the true Enforcer! "Oh no! What have I done?" she muttered in shock.  
  
"You just KO'ed your boyfriend, that's what you've done. Say, most of your relationships end like that anyway, right, princess?" Blue Fang chortled as she transformed back into her foxy true form.  
  
"I swear, by Chandrala's fiery crown, even if it must cost me my life, I will kill you, Blue Fang, and avenge those you have killed or wronged." the echidna princess vowed through clenched teeth.  
  
The vixen enchantress laughed cruelly at Adonna-Lyn's statement as she transformed into an exact look-alike of the echidna princess. "How can you face me when you can't even face yourself?" Blue Fang teased in Adonna-Lyn's voice.  
  
Overcome with rage, Adonna-Lyn tackled the disguised Blue Fang and they wrestled about the ground.  
  
Meanwhile, where John laid buried....  
  
"He's broken loose! Run!" one of the many cloaked figures shouted as they fled from the small echidna child.  
  
"Don't just run, you fools! Get the tasers! We must get him under our control!" a leading officer amoung the cloaked beings shouted.  
  
"Let me go!" A young, pretty echidna girl shouted amidst the chaos that was ensuing the room.   
  
Then, with roar so unholy it would frighten the firmest beleivers, the child unleashed a synaptic onslaught! Bolts of blue-shaded lightning soared from his small form and caused irrepairable damage to whatever or whomever it hit. After a matter of horrifying seconds, the attack ceased.   
  
The echidna, a blue-skinned one, weakly pulled the suction cups that were used to shock him if he got out of control from his being. It was then, he discovered that he could absorb energy to replenish himself when he utilized the dangerous attack he had just performed.  
  
He surveyed the damage he had wrought...and gasped! The girl, one who had been his only friend ever since they met, was on the ground, her body charred and frazzled. It was painfully clear to him that one of the bolts from his attack struck her head-on. He could tell from her slowing hearbeats that she was dying.  
  
"Jalin-La...I'm so sorry! I didn't meant to hit you! Please forgive me!" he pleaded while holding her limp body close to his.  
  
The girl, looked up at him, smiled and, with her last breaths, said, "I forgive you....best....frienddddddd...." With that, the girl died.  
  
The blue echidna pressed her body into his, wept, then unleashed a scream mixed with his mourning and angered feelings....  
  
John then awoke to find himself buried under the rubble of palace debris. "Whoa. Boy, did that bring back memories. Could I have buried these memories to ease the pain I felt?" John wondered.   
  
He heard the sound of Adonna-Lyn struggling, as if she was fighting furiously. "Because of me, that girl in my memories perished. I shall not let another girl die because of me!" John growled as he then forced the debris off of himself.  
  
But as he surfaced, he gulped. Two Adonna-Lyns were on the ground, wrestling each other to what would certainly be the death if a wrong move was made.   
  
John, however, noticed something with the one echinda on top of the other. "Bingo!" he muttered. He then pulled out his blaster and fired upon the echidna on top. With a scream of pain, the echidna John shot at transformed back into Blue Fang.  
  
"How?! How is it possible?" she growled as she clutched her wound.  
  
"Adonna-Lyn told me about your transformations." John said as he helped Adonna-Lyn to her feet, "Your eye color remains the same, no matter what form you take!"  
  
Blue Fang used her powers to heal herself, then jumped at John. She knocked him to the ground and tried to get her claws through the armor and at John's skin. John then wrapped his dreadlocks around Blue Fang's limbs and neck. "Adon! Get the dagger. It's in her hair!" John shouted.  
  
Adonna-Lyn sifted through the enchantress' hair to find the dagger, despite Blue Fang shouting, "STOP THAT! YOU'RE MESSING UP MY HAIR!"  
  
"You know, you really give women a bad name, using your body and your charm to get what you want." Adonna-Lyn said as she finally found the dagger. It was small, had a golden handle, and had a red jewel at one point and two blue jewels at the hilt.  
  
"You used to do the same thing, you know." Blue Fang hissed as she struggled to break free from the ultra-strong grip of John's dreadlocks.  
  
"Adon! Use the dagger! Sap Blue Fang's powers!" John shouted.  
  
With that, Adonna-Lyn held the dagger close to her forehead and muttered the incantation, "Mortaff keesar, chu-nuun ta!" The dagger flew from her hands and hovered above Blue Fang like an angel of death.  
  
"NOOOOOOOO!" Blue Fang screamed as a red beam of light from the dagger hit her in the back. The beam then transformed into bolts of red-shaded lightning that coursed over her body. John released Blue Fang and rolled out of the way to avoid having his powers taken as well. The red bolts then changed to a blue color and flew into the the blue jewels of the dagger, which afterward flew back into Adonna-Lyn's hands.  
  
John joined Adonna-Lyn by her side as Blue Fang collapsed to the floor. They looked at each other for a moment, smiled, and high-fived each other, while shouting, "Yes!"  
  
"We did it!" Adonna-Lyn happily cried as she hugged him, "John, you're wonderful!"  
  
"You're not so bad yourself, princess!" John said while brushing her hair out of her face.  
  
Suddenly, something knocked Adonna-Lyn to the ground. It was Blue Fang, and she was spitting mad! "You little wretch! So help me, I'll kill you and your bounty hunter boyfriend for this outrage!" she roared as she forced her hands around the echidna princess' throat.  
  
"I highly doubt that." Adonna-Lyn said as she then did a backwards tumble, kicking Blue Fang off of her in the process.  
  
John had to act fast, because he knew that wouldn't stop the powerless vixen. He tossed out the Pokeball with his Ariados in it and commanded, "Ariados, GO! Wrap up Blue Fang with your Spider Web Attack!"  
  
The spider-like Pokemon obeyed and fired many sticky strands of its webbing at Blue Fang, wrapping her up until her eyes and her feet were the only things left visible. As the vixen enchantress thrashed and struggled about, John came up to her and jabbed her with the spur on his left wrist for a good ten seconds. Within moments, the cocoon-wrapped vixen slowed her struggles to a halt and appeared to be as lifeless as a doll.  
  
"Why didn't you kill her?" Adonna-Lyn asked of him.  
  
John turned to her and said, "I have other plans for her." John then pulled out Interface, made a communication link with the ShadowHunter, and said, "Heavy, come in."  
  
"I'm reading you loud and clear, sir. What is the status of our mission?" Heavy asked.  
  
"Mission complete. Home in on my signal and have the ship land in the royal courtyard." John commanded.  
  
"Do you have the dagger?" the Mechanix drone asked.  
  
John looked at Adonna-Lyn, who was giving him a suspicious look, and then said, "Heavy, after careful consideration, I have decided that the dagger is to remain here on Chandral. I have, however, secured a dancing girl for Jabba the Hutt."   
  
"Very well, sir. Heavy, over and out." Heavy replied.  
  
As John closed up Interface, he looked at Adonna-Lyn for a moment.  
  
But before either echidna said a word, something began to occur. With several sparks flowing from the dagger, the palace was beginning to revert back to its original royal splender. The walls went back to having a light-blue alabaster look, the floors went back to looking like peach-colored marble.   
  
"Nice transmition." John said as he marveled the change. Suddenly, something fell on top of John. It was a blue echidna with dark green eyes, nine dreadlocks with the two front dreads cut short to small stubs, and tuft of black hair on his head and his chin. His robes and ornamental jewels definitely suggested royalty.  
  
"Oh my...Daddy!" Adonna-Lyn gasped as she went to help her father up.  
  
"Daddy?" John thought scornfuly as he got off the ground, "Feels more like dead weight!"  
  
King Aaron gazed up at his daughter and asked, "Adonna-Lyn? Is it truly you?"  
  
"Yes, daddy. It's me." Adonna-Lyn said, her eyes going to happy tears.   
  
"Oh, dearest!" her father cried, throwing his arms around her.  
  
"Oh, daddy!" Adonna-Lyn cried as she embraced him strongly.  
  
John smiled happily at this scene. "Gee. This is such a heartwarming scene." he said to himself, "Well, I guess I'll be on my way."  
  
"Hold it right there, young man!" King Aaron commanded with his strong and powerful voice.  
  
John meekly turned around and asked, "Yes, your Majesty?"  
  
"I believe you have not introduced yourself, young sir. What is your name?" he requested.  
  
John thought carefully of how he was going word this, then he replied, "John the Enforcer, sire."  
  
"Well, Sir John..." King Aaron started.  
  
"Oh, geez, here it comes." John thought, cringing.  
  
"How can I ever thank you?" he said happily, "You brought my beloved daughter back to me, vanquished a vile enemy of the Supreme Royal Family, and delivered me from a life behind the walls of my own palace."  
  
"Well, those last two parts should go to your daughter and I together." John admitted, "It was a team effort."  
  
"Yes, I see." King Aaron said, rubbing his small beard.  
  
"Oh, it goes much further than that, daddy." Adonna-Lyn stated, "We faced off to Buatras, marauders, Arachnas, Overlanders, a Carnarth, a Hedgehog gang, and vile robots from his world, the last one he did save me from."  
  
"Hmm...sounds like quite an adventure, Adon." King Aaron said.  
  
"And at one point, I performed the Par-nuun-sa for John and..." Adonna-Lyn began to say before she was cut off by her father gasping a bit.  
  
"Is...it...true?" he asked, "And did he...?  
  
"Well, yes,...and..." Adonna-Lyn replied while puzzled by what her father was getting at.  
  
In that moment, King Aaron laughed proudly and proclaimed, "Praise Chandrala! My daughter has finally chosen her husband!"  
  
"WHAT?!" John exclaimed in surprise. Adonna-Lyn merely gave him a shrug.  
  
King Aaron then hugged John tightly, right to the point where John felt like his head was about to pop off of his body. "Oh, you wonderful boy, I could just kiss you...no, wait! I'll save that for my daughter...but rest assured, Sir John, you and my dear Adonna-Lyn will be happy and prosperous when you take over as my heirs to the throne!"   
  
"Heirs to the throne?!" John thought to himself, "Hmm, that doesn't sound so bad."  
  
"That is, if you'll accept." King Aaron said, "The choice, of course, is yours."  
  
"I'm sure he will, father." Adonna-Lyn said while giving John a charming smile.  
  
"Um...could you just excuse me for a moment, your Majesty?" John   
  
requested.  
  
"Certainly, young man, go ahead. I need to talk to my daughter and hear about all of your adventures." he said.  
  
John bowed, said, "Thank you, your Majesty.", and left the throne room.   
  
Once outside of the throne room, John seriously considered his possible futures. On one hand, he could send Heavy to deliver the vixen enchantress as a dancing slave girl to the Jabba the Hutt, then remain on Chandral and stay by Adonna-Lyn's side. On the other hand, he could leave, just collect the reward on delivering Blue Fang, and go on with his bounty hunting career. One held a profitable life for John while the other guaranteed a more prosperous life.   
  
Then, John realized something he had kept to himself throughout his career. Something that hurt him more than any pain he had suffered. That was his loneliness.  
  
Even though Heavy was with John throughout his time as a bounty hunter, the Mechanix drone was not much of a coversational companion. Those John had pursued and captured were not even company at all. They were criminals and individuals that cursed and spat at the very sight of him. This created a horrible, soul-wrenching feeling of loneliness, one that raked at John's mind and soul for his time as a bounty hunter. It caused such an ache in John's heart that he could bare it no longer when he admitted his affections for Adonna-Lyn when they argued with each other in the Death Forest.  
  
"Well, what have I got to lose?" John said to himself as he re-entered the throne room.   
  
As he entered, both of the echidna royals turned to face him. "Well, my boy, what have you decided?" King Aaron asked of him.  
  
"I have thought long and hard about it," John answered, "And I have decided...yes, I do wish to marry Adonna-Lyn."   
  
The echidna monarch clapped his hands together and said, "Excellent! Wonderful news! Adonna-Lyn, my dear, why don't you and your husband-to-be run along and spend some time getting acquainted with each other while I begin preparing the wedding arrangements. You two shall be married by next Saturday."  
  
With that, Adonna-Lyn and John left the throne room.  
  
For the next three days, John and the princess were inseparable. There wasn't one minute that would go by when someone saw them together or near each other. To all the people of Chandral, this was surely a sign of good fortune for the continued rule of the Supreme Rulers of their world. However, as the day of their marriage came close...  
  
"Sir! Sir, I must speak with you immediately." Heavy requested as John was being massaged by Neela.  
  
John stretched for a moment. Neela certainly had a magic touch, and it was doing wonders on the scar on John's back. "Okay, Heavy. What's on that microchip mind of yours?" John asked, "Neela, could you aim just a little lower? Just a little more...a little more...stop right there. That's the center of it. Thank you."  
  
"Sir, I've heard about you marrying the princess Adonna-Lyn." Heavy started.  
  
John sighed dreamily and said, "Ah, yes. Marrying her. Oh, Heavy, marrying her is possibley the best thing that has ever happened to me ever since...come to think of it, this is the best thing that has happened in my life."  
  
"Yes. Well, sir, did it ever occur to you that she's possibley out of your league?" Heavy asked.  
  
John chuckled and said, "Oh, poor, misguided Heavy. As far as I'm concerned, she's perfectly in my league. She's equally as powerful, intelligent, and as formidible as I am. On top of that, she's beautiful beyond belief, is more graceful than any female I've met, and has a personality that suits my fancy just fine, thank-you-very-much."  
  
"Well, what about her RANK, sir? She is a princess, you know." the Mechanix drone stated as he paced back and forth in front of John's face, "And besides, what of Mobius?"  
  
"Heavy, don't take this personally of the world we came from, but...screw Mobius! As far as I'm concerned, I'm never returning to that putrid sphere ever again!" John declared defiently.  
  
"Maybe this should convince you otherwise, sir." Heavy said while handing John a datadisk.  
  
"And this is?" he asked of his mechanical partner.  
  
Heavy pressed a button on the datadisk. It then displayed various scenes of either the wildlife or the citizens of Chandral being rounded up and placed into cages or rockets that were destined to return to Mobius by Robotnik's robots. John was shocked to see this.  
  
"I took the liberty of destroying the robots and the containments devices they were using before they left this world." Heavy stated, "However, I severely doubt that Chandral has seen the last of the tyranny of Dr. Robotnik, sir. It would be prudent if we returned to Mobius and eliminate the threat of that vile dictator before it spreads to the rest of the galaxy, possibley even the universe!"  
  
"No, Heavy. I'm not returning to Mobius and that's final." John sternly snapped.  
  
Heavy looked at him as coldly as the planets of the Hoth system, and said, "This is HER doing, isn't it? Has that princess pulled the veil over your eyes, blinding you from the scale of the situation?"  
  
"Stop it." John muttered, his anger rising.  
  
"Sir, we have to return to Mobius or otherwise, all intelligent, sentient thought will be extinguished!" Heavy stated bluntly.  
  
"SHUT UP!" John roared as he telekinetically threw Heavy across the room and into a wall! Neela, despite the fact that she was terrified by John's reaction, continued to massage him, not wanting to get involved in the occurances.  
  
As the Mechanix drone got up, he gave his blue dreadlocked partner a look like a puppy that was being yelled at for doing something wrong. John, realizing what he had done, tried to apologize, "Heavy...I'm....I'm so sorry. I..."  
  
Heavy, while picking himself out of the wall, brushed the bit of palace wall debris off of him. "Of course, the choice is yours, sir. I'll go and load Blue Fang on board the ShadowHunter. Now, if you'll excuse me, your Majesty!", he finished so scornfully, it hurt John's earholes to hear it. With that, the Mechanix drone left.  
  
John was hurt. He had harmed his only companion during his career as a bounty hunter. He turned to Neela and asked, "Neela, if you were in my shoes, what would you do?"  
  
"Walk in them." she replied.  
  
Realizing she misinterpereted what John meant, he asked, "No, what I mean is, what would do if you were given the choice of either leaving this world to fight a tyrant that was threatening to conquer the universe or remaining here with the one you love more than anything in your existence?"  
  
She answered, "I would do what is right for the many, instead of what is right for just one person." After answering John's question, she left, leaving John to ponder her answer.  
  
That very night, as a grand party was thrown to honor John and Adonna-Lyn's victory over Blue Fang, John stepped out onto a balcony to gaze at the stars above and think about what he would have to do.  
  
"John, is something the matter? You've been awfully quiet." Adonna-Lyn asked of him.   
  
He turned to see her. She was dressed in a fire-red variation of her casual clothes, but with a few exceptions. The pants were made of a non-translucent velvet with a reddis-orange see-through cape around the waist except the front. Her top had a green brooch, and a thin layer of a orange nylon-like fabric spanning from the area around her chest to a strap around her neck. The outfit also included a pair of red Arabian-style slippers, a veil-like headdress that went around her head and was connected by a series of clamps around her dreadlocks, her casual crown, and red sliken sleeves (ones that extended from her armpits to her wrists) that were separate from the rest of her outfit.   
  
"Adonna-Lyn, to say you look ravishing would be an understatement." John complimented.  
  
Adonna-Lyn looked at him with a worried expression and said, "John, something is wrong. I can tell by your voice. Please tell me what is upsetting you."  
  
John took in a deep breath. "Adon, there's...something I need to tell you. It isn't going to be easy for you to hear, but you must know of it." he said.  
  
She backed away from him and said, "Don't tell me you're already married!"  
  
"Wha....NOOO! That's not what I need to tell you, and no, I'm still a bachelor." he told her after slapping his head.  
  
"Well, that's a relief." Adonna-Lyn said, "But what is troubling you?"  
  
"Hoo-boy! How am I going to explain this?" he wondered. Then, he arrived at an idea. He guided the echidna princess to a certain point on the balcony and pointed towards the sky, saying, "Do you see that blue point of light there, the one the point of my claw is at?"  
  
"Yes. That's Mobius, your homeworld. It looks very pretty from here." she sighed, leaning her head on John's hand, which was on her right shoulder.  
  
Not to be deviated from what he needed to tell her, he said, "It won't remain pretty for long. Adon, remember what I was telling you about the tyrant Robotnik?"  
  
She nodded her head.  
  
"Well, Heavy informed me that there were other robots here on Chandral, gathering up animals and people to be taken back to Mobius and to be made into Robotnik's silicon-brained slaves. Fortunately, he took em' out before they had a chance to send your world's people and wildlife into Robotnik's clutches. But there will be more of them, unless Robotnik is stopped. Do you understand what I'm telling you?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, I understand perfectly. What you're basically saying is that you're going to leave me just to settle some personal vendetta against this bloated idiot on your world!" she shouted at him, tears falling from her eyes, "Damn it, John! I thought you loved me!"  
  
"Adonna-Lyn, I have to do this because I do love you, and because I would never forgive myself if that tyrant roboticized you and your people." John said while grabbing her wrists in an assuring way.   
  
She, overcome with her sadness and anger at his news, slapped John hard across the face, hard enough to knock him to the floor of the balcony. Then, she leaned on the railing, put her head down, and wept. "The first true love of my life...and he leaves me just to fight in a war!" she cried.  
  
John rubbed the part of his face that Adonna-Lyn smacked and said, "I deserved that, Adonna-Lyn. Right now, I don't blame you for hating me for my leaving you. But if I don't return to Mobius and put an end to Robotnik's tyranny, countless worlds, including yours, will fall under his rule, and that is something that I cannot allow to happen!"  
  
Feeling that he was losing Adonna-Lyn, he added, "But rest assured, Adonna-Lyn, once that fat fiend is defeated, I shall return to you. This is my most solemn vow, and I will keep it with all my heart."  
  
Adonna-Lyn turned to him at last and asked, "You swear that once Robotnik is vanquished, that you will return to take my hand in marriage?"  
  
John raised his hand and said, "I swear, by my soul, by my mind, by my heart, and by all the stars in the heavens, we will re-unite and be wed."  
  
That was good enough for the princess. She then went over and hugged him as tightly as possible...  
  
The next day...  
  
"Sir, final checks have been made. The ShadowHunter is ready for take-off. Shall we?" Heavy asked.  
  
John sat on the wing of his ship, twiddling the Chandral Dagger between his hands. Adonna-Lyn allowed him ownership of the dagger as a reminder of his vow. "Not yet, Heavy. She said she'd be here before we leave." he told his Mechanix partner.   
  
Just as John predicted, Adonna-Lyn came, along with Neela who was carrying a head-sized sack. Adonna-Lyn explained, "There's atleast fifty thousand chandrits in this sack. My father wanted to give it to you as a token of his esteem."  
  
"I see. Heavy, take it and stow it in my quarters." John commanded, "Neela, tell his Majesty that I accept his token of esteem with much gratitude."  
  
"Yes, your Highness." Neela said with a bow. She then left.  
  
"Now that you are betrothed to me, I guess you count as royalty." Adonna-Lyn said with a light-hearted laugh.  
  
"Yeah." John chuckled.  
  
Silence.  
  
"Why don't you come with me?" John offered her, "You would be a great help back home."  
  
She shook her head and said, "As much as I'd really love to, my place is here, with my people, and my father."  
  
John sighed, "Oh."  
  
Silence.  
  
"Well, I might as well get going." he said while turning to the airlock of the ship, "Farewell, princess."  
  
"John, wait!" she shouted after him.  
  
"Ye...mmmph!" John started to say. Adonna-Lyn halted what he was going to say and kissed him on the lips. But before their lips parted, John embraced Adonna-Lyn, held her close his being and returned her kiss. As they continued to kiss, their front two dreadlocks intertwined with each other, Adonna-Lyn kicking up her left heel.  
  
Heavy noticed this going on from a window in John's quarters, slapped his head, and, while going down to the airlock, muttered, "For the love of God..."  
  
He emerged from the airlock, grabbed John by his tail, and began to drag him towards the interior of the ship, grunting, "I hate to break up this tender moment, sir, but we have to leave NOW!"  
  
But as Heavy dragged John into the ShadowHunter, he saw that the echidna princess was still embracing her lover. "Madame, if you would please let go of him so that he may fulfill his vow!" he requested.   
  
As they parted, she shouted to him, "I love you!"  
  
John gave her a knowing look and said, "I know."  
  
With that, the ship began to take off, with John staring out of a window at her. As the ship began to vanish from sight, Adonna-Lyn blew a kiss and said, "Farewell, my beloved."  
  
  
  
Along his way to the cockpit, John stopped for a moment, and angrily pounded on one of the walls of the ship! "Damn you, Heavy, it's not fair! Why must this war with Robotnik separate me from the one I have fallen in love with?!" he cursed in all his frustration.  
  
"Sir, we've cleared the asteroid field." Heavy announced.   
  
"Damn you, Heavy! Damn you to Hell!" John muttered as he finally reached the cockpit.   
  
"Sir, it was for your own good. After all, it is better to have loved and lost than to never to have loved at all." Heavy quoted.  
  
"What would you know about love, you wretched piece of shit?! You're just a robot! You would know love even if someone smacked you upside the head with a love letter." John growled.  
  
Suddenly, several blasts rocked the ship!  
  
"Damn it! I forgot all about him." John yelled, remembering that Aldar Beedo was still waiting for him outside of the asteroid field.   
  
"I knew you'd come out of there ssssssssometime. Now fork over your cargo and maybe I'll ssssssspare you and your sssssssship!" the Glymphid assasin hissed over John's intercom.   
  
John seized the controls to the turbolasers of his ship and said, "Beedo, go to HELL!" He fired repeatedly at the Glymphid's ship. John's shots, however, were deflected by the Tarroga Gan's shields.  
  
"Hahahahahahahaha! Did you honessssssssstly think I'd allow you to desssssssstroy me sssssssssso easssssssily?" Aldar Beedo laughed.  
  
Then, John fired an ion cannon blast at Aldar Beedo's ship. The blast shut down all of the Tarroga Gan's systems except life support and communications.   
  
"Heavy, lock the tractor beam onto that hissing fool's ship and prepare to make the jump to lightspeed." John commanded.  
  
"Sir, we've never attempted dragging a ship into hyperspace..." the robot began to protest...until John hit him.  
  
John glared at him angrily and snarled, "Heavy, as it is, I'm in a very foul mood with you. Don't make it worse. Just do as I say!"  
  
Heavy let out a sigh and said, "As you wish, sir. Setting lightspeed coordinates for Tatooine."   
  
With that, the ship jumped into hyperspace...  
  
The Glymphid bounty hunter was thrown down on the floor in front of Jabba the Hutt. "I'm getting real tired of you trying to cheat me out of my hunts, Jabba. First, it was sending me on a hunt to hopefully get rid of me, and now, you send this flunky after me!" John growled from within his armor.  
  
The Hutt merely glared at the Glymphid and snarled, "You have failed me, Beedo! Get out of my sight!"  
  
"Yessssssss, oh, mighty Jabba. Your mercsssssssy knows no boundsssssss." Aldar Beedo whimpered as he left.  
  
"Now, about my pay..." John muttered.  
  
"Not so fast! Where's the cargo?" Jabba demanded.   
  
John snapped his fingers. Blue Fang was being pulled in by Heavy in chains. The Hutt looked on with great interest. "And the dagger?" he asked.  
  
"Totally non-existent, Exalted one. As it turned out, there was no dagger. I'd check your sources more carefully before you follow up on them." John lied.  
  
"Hmph!" Jabba snorted, "Then you only receive 750 thousand for this hunt."   
  
"Fine. Cause I'm through, Jabba. I've lived long enough with scum like you! Count me off of your roster of hired guns." John snapped, "And as for your new dancing girl, do what you like with her! Come, Heavy."   
  
"Yes, sir." Heavy acknowledged as he handed the chain over to a Gammorean guard.  
  
Jabba then ordered, "Guard, take her to the Dancer's pit and see that she gets cleaned up and 'dressed right'. Tonight, we celebrate the retirement of the Enforcer! Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!".  
  
As the ShadowHunter zipped out of hyperspace, Heavy was saying, "Well, that's gratitude for you. To think, all the trouble we've gone through and he's throwing a retirement party without you! The very idea..."  
  
"Okay, Heavy. You've used up your quota with me. ZIP IT!" John muttered.  
  
"Sir..." the Mechanix drone tried to say.  
  
"Zip it." John snapped while giving him a cold stare.  
  
After a few seconds of silence, Heavy replied, "Yes, sir."  
  
John was still hurt to think that his own partner would bar him from the girl he loved. He was very uncertain he would see the echidna princess's fair face ever again. The thought was enough to make him cry.  
  
"Sir, we're almost upon Mobius." Heavy announced.  
  
John looked down upon his war-torn homeworld with a sigh and looked back at Chandral, the paradise-like planet he had left behind. "Well, ready or not, Mobius. The Enforcer has returned!"  
  
The en.....Whoa, wait a minute! There is yet an Epilogue to follow!  
  
Epilogue (Told ya' so!):  
  
"Dance, slave!" a deep, gurgling voice shouted in a strange language.  
  
Blue Fang angrily glared at her captor. Just when she thought echidnas were the most hideous beings in the universe, she was now facing someone that quickly changed her opinion. Jabba drooled at the sight of her, licking his wide lips with his slimy tongue, snapping the chain that led from his hand to the manacle around her neck like a whip.  
  
What was worse about this Hutt was his taste in women's clothing. The outfit she was wearing was made of a fishnet-like material that came over her chest and torso, her thighs, and her shins. On top of that, her illustrious hair was combed towards the back of her head and grouped into single ponytail what was held together by leather straps, which would repeatedly slap against her bare back. Even further on top of that, she was BAREFOOT! She hated, absolutely HATED, going around barefoot!   
  
The Hutt, tired of waiting for the Chandralite vixen to dance, began to tug her towards his bloated form.  
  
Sensing what was in store for her, she pulled back on the chain, bracing her bare feet against the partially sand-covered floor. Without knowing it, she was further enticing the Hutt. For some perverse reason, Jabba delighted in seeing people fighting, even if in vain, for their lives.   
  
The tug-of-war went on for about five minutes, Blue Fang hanging back with her hands and barefeet, Jabba with only one hand. Then, Jabba got clever. He let go of the chain for a moment and laughed uproariously as Blue Fang fell back on her tail. With one quick yank, he brought the vixen enchantress within reach of his slimy self.   
  
"Oh no, you don't, you swollen piece of bodily waste!" Blue Fang thought angrily. She may not have been able to make her fingernails into claws, but her nails were sharp enough to do some serious damage. With that, she drove her nails into Jabba's fetid flesh, actually causing the monstrous slug to bleed!  
  
Enraged, Jabba let out a bellow of pain and anguish, then slapped Blue Fang onto the floor in front of him. The vile gangster then slammed his fist on a button near his dais. The floor beneath the vixen dropped down and sent her screaming down a chute and into a bone-littered chamber. She rolled a couple of times across the sand-covered ground before she came to a halt in front of the skeletal remains of an alien.   
  
She shrank back from it and got to her feet immediately, surveying her new surroundings. It was mostly a dug-out cavern, with several rocks and bones scattered about the floor. The stench of death was very strong in the chamber.  
  
Suddenly, something began to make a loud creaking noise. She turned around and saw a huge metal gate lifting upward. Behind the gate came the sounds of a large beast shuffling about in its den as it waited for the gate to be completely opened. As the gate reached its climax, the beast emerged. It was a Rancor!  
  
Blue Fang had heard of these beasts from tales told by spacers who were lucky enough to make it past the asteroid field and spend time on Chandral. They were voracious monsters, known for their short tempers and savage appetites for meat whether it be dead or alive. This one was pretty young for so awesome a creature, but it was huge and impending enough to make Blue Fang's hair stand on end.  
  
First, she tried to put the beast under her control with one piercing stare, like the way she did to put the late Brutus under her command. No such luck. She then remembered a horrifying fact: she was stripped of her powers back on Chandral!  
  
The Rancor swung at her with its left clawed hand, trying to scoop her up and devour her. Blue Fang was able to dodge it, being way too nimble for the slow moving monster. She ran to the gate in which she had entered this chamber, only to find that some heavy grating was over it. She clawed at it, kicked at it, and even tried to dig around it, but to no avail. The Rancor was almost upon her. It tried again to grab her. She dodged, and the Rancor's fingers wound up scraping the metal gate. The beast roared and howled in anguish, clutching its fingers like a child who had just suffered its first encounter with an electrical socket.  
  
Blue Fang, noticing a door at the far end of the monster's den, tried to run under the creature and toward it. The beast, full with betrayed anger, clawed at her, but missed. Blue Fang opened the door by pressing a few buttons off to its right...only to find that there were was yet another door, barring her way from freedom and survival.  
  
One fat human, a Corellian named Malakili, took notice of Blue Fang pulling at the bars of the door into the Rancor's den. He rolled his eyes, came over, and shoved Blue Fang back towards his beloved pet, which was now hell-bent on ripping the vixen enchantress apart. "Just hurry up and get eaten." he yawned (surprisingly) in Chandralese, "Jabba must have his entertainment."  
  
"This is ENTERTAINMENT?!" she thought in total shock, "Well if this is Jabba's idea of entertainment, I'd hate to see what his ideas of torture and punishment are."  
  
Without warning, something scaly grabbed Blue Fang by her tail. She knew instinctively that it was the Rancor! She tried to grip the ground or get ahold of a bone to smack the beast in the head with, only to grab handfuls of sand. She was then hoisted into the air and straight towards the Rancor's fang-filled mouth.  
  
"NOOOOOO!" she screamed.  
  
But as the Rancor began to lower her into its gaping maw, she vanished from sight! The Rancor looked about, confused as to where its prey had gone. It then made a slight growl of disappointment and shuffled back into its den.  
  
Blue Fang reappeared in an alleyway of a desert-based city. She fell flat on her face. "What?! What happ...Who....How did I get here?" she wondered in utter surprise. She looked about and tried to get her bearings. She heard some chittering behind her and saw a Jawa staring right back at her with its yellow glowing eyes. She screamed, ran, and hid behind some scrap metal. The Jawa, too, screamed and ran out of the alley.  
  
Blue peered out to see that the tiny hooded creature was gone. With a sigh of relief, she turned and saw her reflection in a shiny mirror-like surface.  
  
"Yuck!" she thought, "I seriously need a make-over." After all, the skimpy outfit Jabba had allowed her was better suited for catching fish rather than imposing fear. Feeling her powers slowly returning to her, she clicked her fingers and went through several clothes changes in a puff of mist each time she changed to a different outfit. She finally stopped at something she liked: a green tuber-top with purple lining, a pair of shorts, a green hairband putting most of her long hair into a sexy ponytail, and a pair of red slipper-like shoes on her feet.  
  
"Now that I have a more...how should I put it, appealing outfit...I need a transport off this rock and to my revenge upon the Enforcer and Princess Adonna-Lyn!" she thought, the fire of vengence burning bright within her. She did think about teleporting off of Tatooine, but she knew she was not at full strength in her powers to accomplish such a teleport to John's homeworld.  
  
She then remembered that most of the best pilots could be found at a cantina or bar or wherever a spacer would go to kick up his feet onto a table and enjoy a good drink.   
  
Surprisingly, there was one close by to where she was. What was even further surprising was that there was no music playing within, which she would have normally expected. However, there was quite a commotion inside, like a fight was breaking out.  
  
As she went in, she dodged the occasional flying fists, bottles, mugs, chairs, tables and Jawas. She was then confronted by two aliens, both as drunk as Tatooine was dry.  
  
One was a four-armed Xexto, its large black eyes peering from atop its long neck.  
  
The other was a three-eyed Gran, its bulbous body and goat-like mouth sticking out like a lazy Hutt's belly.  
  
"Hello there, cutie." the Xexto said while reeling in his drunken stupor, "How would like to spend a night with the great Gasgano, the best Podracer in all the Outer Rim Territories?"  
  
"As much as I'd love to, I need a transport off of Tatooine. Do you happen to have one?" she asked while throwing in her seductive voice.  
  
"BAAAH!" the Gran bellowed as he roughly grabbed her right arm, "You're lucky your transport is able to get off the ground, let along your own pathetic Podracing career. My transport is faster and much better than his, sweet-cheeks!  
  
"Get your grimy hands off her, Mawhonic, you sand-sucking piece of Sarlacc bait! I saw her first!" Gasgano yelled while poking the Gran in the eyes (all three of them) and seizing Blue Fang away from him.  
  
Mawhonic swung about wildly with his fists, shouting, "Rot your hide, you multi-armed gravel maggot! You always hit my weakspots!"  
  
The two aliens then got into a terrible brawl. Blue Fang slapped her forehead and groaned, "Men! They're all alike."  
  
But before she got far, Mawhonic grabbed her and grinned, "Not so fast, two-eyes. I'm not finished with you."  
  
"Unhand me at once, you drunken reprobate! Help!" she cried.  
  
Then, they came.  
  
Both were Luperian bounty hunters, members of a dog-like race whose homeworld lied within the constellation Canis Major. One was a thin, grey, wolf-like being with several tufts of light-grey hair on his head and chin. He was dressed in red body armor from his shoulders to his feet. He was holding a blaster in his hand and had some sort of remote control in his left pocket.  
  
His partner was a large, muscualar, orange hyena-like being with messed-up yellow hair running down from the top of his head to his tail and a couple of curved, sharp teeth sticking out of his bottom jaw. He wore a pair of gnarled gloves, ripped-up green pants, mechanical-looking boots, and a pair of goofy-looking pincnez resting upon his snout.  
  
"What seems to be the problem here, Pod-scum?" the wolf asked while brandishing his blaster right in front of Mawhonic's nose.  
  
"Uh...nothin'! Heheheh. Absolutely nothing at all, guys." the Gran sheepishly chuckled as he let go of Blue Fang and lightly patted her on the head.  
  
The wolf's partner, however, growled, grabbed Mawhonic by the neck and threw him out of the cantina.  
  
"You alright, miss?" the wolf asked of her.  
  
"Yeah, thanks. It certainly is a good thing you two showed up." she said while batting her eyes flirtatiously.  
  
"Tell you what. How about you have a seat with us and have a few Bantha steaks? You look rather famished, Miss...?" the wolf suggested.  
  
"I am Blue Fang, the de-throwned Supreme Empress of Chandral." she answered.  
  
The wolf bowed to her and said, "Well, then it is quite an honor to meet you, your dethrowned Majesty. I am Sleet, and my dim-witted partner is named Dingo." He then noticed that Dingo had not joined them. He looked and saw his partner just standing at the doorway. "Dingo! Get over here, you idiot!" Sleet shouted.  
  
Finally, all three were gathered at a booth. Blue Fang hungrily ate one Bantha steak after another. Sleet observed this and commented, "My, you have quite an appetite! So, what brings you to Tatooine?"  
  
"The Enforcer brought me here! He is responsible for my banishment from the royal throne of Chandral." Blue Fang cursed, "And considering you're bounty hunters, how would you like to make yourselves famous?"  
  
"Is this a trick question?" Dingo asked.  
  
"Shut up, you moron! Let me do the talking!" Sleet shouted while slapping Dingo upside the head, "Sorry about that. Dingo needs a special form of discipline for his constant stupidity."  
  
"I...see. Anyway, all you have to do is aid me in destroying the Enforcer and this other little bitch, and I will reward you with all the money he has collected, and make you the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy!" Blue Fang explained, "So, do we have a deal?"  
  
"Pardon me. My partner and I must confer." Sleet said. He turned to Dingo and whispered, "Well, what do you think, Dingo?"  
  
"She's very pretty." Dingo whispered back.  
  
Sleet hit him and hissed "About the deal, stupid!"  
  
"Oh. Let's take the job, Sleet." he whispered back.  
  
With that, the deal was sealed.  
  
Blue Fang sat in chair behind Dingo aboard their red, scorpion-shaped ship "The Crimson Howl". She thought about her plans for vengence against John the Enforcer and all of his friends. She would certainly have to target those who made John what he was, those who forced him to leave his world in the first place. Then she would destroy those who were closest to him. Then it would come down to John and the echidna princess. They would get theirs very quickly and painfully.  
  
"Your dethrowned Majesty, we're entering the Mobadan system." Sleet said, "What shall we do upon our arrival on Mobius?"  
  
Blue Fang grinned at him. "Target John's friends first. They're a group of rebels that look just like this." she said as she held two spheres of light in her hand. They then flew into the Luperian's minds, giving them a mental image.   
  
"As you command, Blue Fang." Sleet said.   
  
"We'll certainly see who has the last laugh, Enforcer. We shall certainly see!" Blue Fang laughed cruelly.  
  
NOW, it's THE END.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Alright, on with the copyright crap.  
  
John the Enforcer, Adonna-Lyn, King Aaron, Neela, Shandray, Blue Fang, Luperians and other references to Chandral and "The Enforcer Saga" are copyright to moi, John "The Enforcer" Fadeley  
  
Lightsabers, blasters, hyperdrives, hyperspace, Jabba the Hutt, and other such characters, places and things are copyright of 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm.  
  
All Pokemon are copyright of Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and Game Freak Inc.  
  
Heavy, Zero, and other references to the world of Sonic are copyright of Sega and Sonic Team  
  
Princess Sally, Sleet and Dingo, and other characters are copyright of DiC and Archie Comics.  
  
And now, on to the those I give a special thanks to...  
  
Neon Dragon: Muchas gracious to you once again for drawing the characters of "The Enforcer Saga". Many of your drawings have inspired the many changes I've made in the creation of my work. For this, I tip my armored helmet to you.  
  
NoOman: You, like Neon Dragon, have helped support and endorse my work. You have an excellent imagination and I can't wait until we reach the point in both our works in which our two "fursona's" meet. Thank you very much.  
  
Booker: Thank you very much for drawing the creatures for my hard work. You have quite a gift for creature work. I hope it takes you far in life.  
  
Crash Fox: You've done a fine job of capturing the artistry of my characters. Keep up the good work!  
  
Cassie Chaemeleon: Muchas gracious for lending an artistic hand to the work that have further helped inspire this work.  
  
To the video game and film industries I've mentioned: Thank you very much for supplying me with the necessary elements to fuel my imagination and create this masterpiece of fanfiction.  
  
To those of whom I've forgotten to mention: I thank you for waiting patiently for the coming of the Saga's third chapter. Your support has helped me keep up my confidence in my literary abilities. I assure you that the next chapters will be just exciting as this chapter.  
  
To the Almighty: And as always, I thank you, God, for always being there for your people and helping to create those I call my friends and family. Without you, nothing is possible.  
  
***********************************************************************  
  
Question: What is worse than a kill-crazy echidna with unlimited powers and a suit of Ditanium-alloy? Try a kill crazy echidna that has been blinded to see his friends as his most hated enemies...especially when the world is about to be plunged into total and perfect CHAOS!  
  
Next time, in "Come Hell or High Water", the fourth chapter of "The Enforcer Saga"!  
  
"A past shrouded in shadow, no one can destroy me. My armor guides me to my destiney!"-John the Enforcer's Sonic Adventure Quote. 


End file.
